Love, Want, Need - Rosalie's Story
by staringatthesky
Summary: Because there's more to the Cullen uber-bitch than a pretty face and a bad attitude. A Twilight rewrite from Rosalie's POV


_This is a repost of this story - it was the first one I wrote and I really think it could be improved, so I pulled it to do that but have had someone ask for it, so here it is. I would like to rewrite it one day (I like to think I've improved since I did this one!) but until I do I will leave this one here so that there is the whole saga rewritten. Love, Rebecca_

Chapter 1- Before.

They pigeon-hole people, in my family. Strip us down to one defining characteristic and that's that. Carlisle, the compassionate father. Esme, the caring maternal one. Alice is the fey seer, and Jasper is the stoic defender. Emmett is the good natured simpleton. Edward is the deep, tormented soul. And me? I'm just the bitch.

They underestimate us all. Especially me.

Edward is the worst offender. I can't stand his smug superiority! He thinks because he can read my mind he knows everything about me. He thinks he's got me all figured out, all I ever was and all I will possibly ever be, but he's wrong. There's a lot more to me than the small strings of thoughts he bothers to listen to. He forgets that I've known him for over eighty years now, and I've picked up a lot of little tricks in that time to keep him out of my head.

Not that I'm not a bitch though. I'm willing to concede that point. But again Edward judges unfairly- how would HE enjoy being forced to put up with a know-it-all mind reader who flat out rejected him? He read my mind for all my newborn years, listened to my mind scream all my hate and anger and despair over what Carlisle had done to me and all that I'd lost, and because it wasn't anything HE considered important he mocked me for it. Maybe my dreams of marriage and babies and family, of being beautiful and popular and at the centre of a social circle were shallow and hardly earth shattering, but they were _mine._ And when Carlisle made me a vampire he took all of it away.

Really, is it any wonder I was kind of a bitch back then?

It was different after I found Emmett. Being a vampire wasn't what I would have chosen, but having Emmett made it almost worthwhile. He changed everything for me. I went out in to the woods to hunt that day, hating the world and every single vampire in it, and I came home that evening carrying a dying man and knowing that nothing else mattered if only he could be saved. I'd barely heard him say a word and yet I _knew_ that my heart, at least the cold, vampire version of it, belonged to him for eternity and he was meant to be mine.

Three days later he rose, warm flesh made immortal stone, and yet it was like he brought the sun to my life. He called me his angel, and it was like all that emotional energy I'd spent raging about the nature of my human death and the loss of all I held close to my heart turned into this crazy passionate love. For Emmett. For this big bear of a man whose face held only smiles for me, and who loved me without the dark, evil side of the human man who had destroyed me. He and I spent the next decade wrapped up in nothing but the sheer pleasure of being together, the two of us equals. I still had my bitter regrets, but with Emmett I found a new world to enjoy and I let go of some of the old hurts.

My newfound almost-contentment allowed me to even extend an olive branch to Edward, but it merely moved our interactions towards civility, not friendship. He knew too much of my bad side by then and wasn't particularly interested in trying again. I wanted us to get along for the family's sake, but honestly, it's not as though Edward and I were ever going to be friends. He's constantly torturing himself with all the deepest questions of humanity and making himself miserable. I just wanted to tell him to stop all this ridiculous naval gazing and find a hobby. You're not even human, what does existential philosophy have to do with you?

Emmett was always a good buffer between us, and once Alice and Jasper joined the family it was even easier to be around each other. With more people to read Edward left me alone more, and I had a new sister and brother who didn't actually hate me so didn't deliberately try and bring out the bitchy side of me. Then, we moved to Forks.

I was happy about the move to Forks. Emmett and I had been living by ourselves for a while and I was missing the family. We also hadn't done the high school thing for a while, and although I would never have admitted it to the others, I kind of liked high school. I know, I know, everyone hates high school…but if you're beautiful and smart AND everyone is afraid of you, it's really not that bad.

Besides, I was ready for something new. My vampire life had taken place during a century of unprecedented change and there were always new ideas and technologies and knowledge coming out. I'd been fixing cars and playing with engines for decades, and as much I loved it I was starting to think about trying something different. I was tossing up between construction engineering and computer programming, and I figured starting at the high school level with those in mind could be interesting.

It sounds boring to most people. Cars for decades, then engineering or computer science. Edward took it as proof that I had no depth to my personality because I wasn't in to the arts like he was, but the fact is I like things that are straightforward. I like things such as engines and computers because they're consistent, they follow the rules, and when you're working on them you always know where you stand. They're not devious and dangerous like people can be.

I was happy to go back to Forks too. It was the town with the highest rainfall in the US and this constant cloud cover allowed us to live an almost human life, something not too many other places permitted. I loved being out in the daylight. I'd also seen the plans for the house remodel Esme had planned for the Forks house and it was going to be spectacular. I was looking forward to working on it with her.

I was looking forward to a lot of things. I didn't know that a human girl was going to come out of nowhere and turn my ordered and controlled world upside down.

* * *

Chapter 2- Learning to Knit.

It started, not that we realised the full implications then, the day Alice learned to knit.

It was late afternoon and most of us were in the living room. Carlisle was at the hospital and Esme was in the garden, but Edward was sitting at the piano and playing in an absent minded kind of way, Emmett and Jasper were playing cards, and I was sitting behind Jasper, flicking through a magazine and helping Emmett cheat at cards by signalling Jasper's hand to him.

Alice came in humming and sat down on the couch, unpacking from her bag her laptop, a ball of purple yarn and two long aluminium needles.

I stared at her incredulously. "Are you _knitting?_ " With endless time on our hands people in my family always were picking up obscure hobbies and acquiring new skills. I mean, Jasper taught himself to be a puppeteer and Esme took up pottery and Edward was fluent in twenty different languages and I don't think anyone was ever going to forget Emmett and the origami, but knitting?

"I'm going to learn," Alice said blithely, connecting to youtube and beginning a tutorial. "Do you have any idea how many different kind of yarns there are? Can you imagine the hats and sweaters I could make?"

"Because vampires who never feel cold need so many hats and sweaters," I murmured, but stopped as I felt something stirring in my dull human memories. "I think…I believe my grandmother taught me. I was quite small…"

"I don't think I ever learned." Alice frowned at the yarn in her hands. "It doesn't feel familiar at all."

I lifted three fingers and touched my heart in Emmett's direction, although I continued to watch Alice fumble with the yarn. It was always interesting to watch one of us try something new- with our level of physical prowess and perfect mental recall most things came very easily, but there were occasional things that took slightly more practice. It seemed knitting might be one of them.

"I wouldn't bother really," Alice told me, pulling her yarn off the needles and starting again. "Jasper's going to win anyway and Emmett's going to throw the cards out the window…although perhaps he'll control himself now just to prove me wrong," she added with a laugh. She focussed on the youtube clip for a few moments and then began moving her hands faster, the yarn looping over itself as her needles clicked. "Look…I think I've got it."

I was silent for a minute, remembering dimly knitting by a fire and tiny woolly socks and bonnets for a friend's baby…"Maybe I should try that again one day."

Alice smiled sweetly and then handed me a large paper bag with string handles and a sheep stamped on the side. "There's pink yarn and a blanket pattern. I knew you'd want to join me and I saw what you'd choose."

I rolled my eyes. "Thank you." Another know-it-all psychic, but for some reason it never annoyed me as much in Alice as it did in Edward. I took the printed pattern out and looked through the instructions. "It's beautiful."

My hands seemed to have a memory of knitting because I easily slipped in to the rhythm of looping yarn and clicking needles. Alice and I sat companionably side by side knitting, while the card game behind us ended in the predicted victory to Jasper and Emmett's throwing of the cards. The two of them then came and dropped into the armchairs and were looking for the television remote control when the noise from Alice's knitting needles stopped. I paused too and looked at her as she stared blankly ahead for several long seconds, before shaking her head and frowning at her work.

"What was it love?" Jasper asked quietly. "What did you see?"

" _Her,"_ Alice said shortly. "Again."

Oh. _Her._ We didn't know her name. It has begun seventeen years ago with visions of a dark eyed human baby and had continued sporadically ever since, with the dark eyed baby growing into a slight, brunette girl.

"She's going to live with her father," Alice continued in frustration. "Who he is and what that has to do with anything I don't know…I just wish I knew who she was and why I keep seeing her!"

I could feel Jasper emanating calm, and Alice smiled at him as she relaxed back into her chair. "Thank you my love. It will be fine…I'm sure I'll find out who she is when the time comes. And I think…" she frowned slightly again, as the edges of a vision tickled at her mind,"…I think it might be soon. This decision matters."

Obviously we didn't know then how much that decision was going to matter, and how very soon we were going to learn who Alice had been seeing in her mind. Because of course that dark haired baby that grew up into the pretty, frail human girl was Bella Swan, and on the day that Alice learned to knit Bella Swan decided to come to Forks and live with her father Charlie. And _that_ decision brought her into Edward's orbit and changed our whole lives. Bella fucking Swan, how I would wish we'd never even heard her name!

* * *

Chapter 3- Love you, want you, need you.

I sat at the dressing table, brushing my hair and staring at my reflection. Emmett lay on the bed behind me, gazing up at the stars through the skylight and humming tunelessly. He was so happy just to _be_. He didn't suffer from my restless energy and endless dissatisfaction and feelings of needing to _do_ something at all times. How was it he could be so content to be here, with me? Even after seventy years together I still felt it, the same disgust and self loathing and feelings of worthlessness that Royce King had drilled into my heart the night he took my life.

I stood beside the bed and waited until Emmett's eyes turned to me. "Do you love me?" I spoke low enough that no one else in the house could hear even with their vampire senses.

"Always," Emmett answered. He slid down the bed until he could sit up on the edge, his hands dangling between his knees. We were inches apart but he didn't touch me. He knew better.

"Do you want me?" I continued, unbuttoning my shirt and letting it slip from my shoulders.

"Every minute of every day."

I dropped my jeans and stepped out of them, standing in front of him in only a sheer pink bra and panties. "Are you mine?"

"Forever," Emmett breathed, sliding to his knees in front of me. He reached out his hands and I placed my palms flat against his and looked down at him as he gazed up at me. Clear, honest devotion shone from his eyes, no dark secrets shadowing the gold. "I will always belong to you. You and me, baby doll…I love you Rosa girl."

I let my hands fall and he immediately wrapped his arms around me, burying his head between my breasts and inhaling my scent. I grabbed at his hair and forced his face backwards so I could kiss him, hard and demanding, and with vampire speed and strength he was on his feet, hands under my ass lifting me up so I could wrap my legs around him. He kissed my face, my neck, my chest as I grabbed at his shirt and pulled until the buttons popped and it was open. I bit his neck and we fell backwards on to the bed, hearing it creak ominously beneath us. Emmett's strong hands kneaded my ass as he rolled me over on to my back and began kissing me down my body, mouthing at my nipples through the thin fabric of my bra, sliding down my belly until he was poised between my legs, _oh god yes, please..._

"You don't like these panties do you?" he muttered hoarsely.

"No," I gasped, lifting my hips to give him more room. "Hate them…"

"Good." With one hand he tore them free and tossed them over his shoulder. "They're in the way Rosa girl, can't do what I want to do to you with panties on…" and then he didn't say anything else for some time, as his mouth was busy in other ways as I writhed beneath his skilful touch. When I begged him for more he kicked free of what was left of his own clothes and slid up my body till he was looming over me. I could feel him, hard and ready and wanting between my legs, but even then he paused and looked into my eyes and smiled at me.

"Yes?" he asked quietly, and it wasn't until I answered him, "Yes, god yes please Emmett, now…" that he let himself go and buried himself inside me with a groan.

I ground against him, harder and faster, not thinking of anything now but the waves of pleasure flooding my senses, building up until I felt like I was shattering from the inside out. I screamed his name, digging my fingers hard into his back to keep him close to me, and then he roared and I felt his own shuddering, heaving climax before he rolled off me onto his side, wrapping his arms around me to bring me with him.

"Love you baby doll," he murmured contentedly, wrapping my hair around his fist.

I rested my hand on his chest, and pretended I could feel a heartbeat. "Tell me again Emmett."

Using his hands in my hair, so gently, he turned my head until I was facing him, our foreheads together and his golden eyes glowing with warmth and love. "You're mine, Rosa girl," he said seriously. "I'm yours. For always baby doll, I will always love you and want you and take care of you and need you to take care of me. Think I could get along without you? You think there's anyone, anywhere in this whole damn world, as beautiful as my Rosa girl?" He kissed me, so gently and tenderly that it almost seemed at odds with his massive size. "Nope. I'm just the bastard who got lucky. Best day ever, the day that damn bear got a hold of me, because that's when I got you."

I smiled at him and tucked my head down onto his shoulder, tracing the line of hair growing from his chest down his belly. God, I loved him. I would have ripped my own limbs off and set fire to them myself before I would have revealed my weaknesses to any of the others, but even laid bare and naked before Emmett I never felt so safe.

I needed him. I used that aloof, bitchy exterior to hide all the inner insecurities and terrors that were only ever soothed by Emmett's big hands and hard body and eagerly professed words of love. He was the only one who knew it all. The only one who knew how much I had loathed my beautiful face and perfect body because it had caught the attention of the human monster who had taken my life. He knew my inner battle with hating myself and hating what I had become and the bitter regrets over all that I had lost, and with his steadfast love and generous nature he accepted it and made it better. He loved me, and as often as I needed to hear it told me so, telling me again and again that we belonged to each other, that he was always going to be there, that I was beautiful and loved and deserved the best. Sometimes I even believed him.

Most of all I needed him to want me, and yet always wait for me to say yes. I almost never _did_ say no, not to Emmett, but I still needed to know that I could, that the choice was mine the way it had not been on the last night of my human life, or even the dawn of my vampire life.

I stroked my hand down the length of his back and scratched at him with my fingernails. Emmett gave a satisfied sort of hum, and then licked my face to make me laugh and swat him away.

"I love you, you know that?" I said. "You hold me together Emmett."

"Anything for my Rosa." He was the only one who ever called me that, and only ever when we alone. I loved the intimacy of that secret name.

It was secret too, because if there was one thing that made Edward shut his mind to what you were thinking it was sex. Particularly when it came to Emmett and I he avoided us even when we were naked, or touching in a completely innocent way, because it might _lead_ to sex, and he really didn't want to hear that. I did sometimes find it amusing that Edward was such a prude, but I suppose being a teenage virgin for a century will do that to a guy.

It was also a weakness I exploited shamelessly. If I wanted to think anything through privately I would soak in a bubble bath with the detachable showerhead in my hand, because I knew that the idea of me masturbating would horrify Edward so much that it would be hours before he'd even think of me again lest he pick up something indiscreet from my head. If I wanted to talk to Emmett about anything in particular I tended to wait until after sex, or even just strip and talk to him while I was nude (which admittedly did tend to turn into sex) because Edward loathed hearing about the sex lives and fantasies of the six people he lived with.

I confess I also used this method to torture him occasionally, when he was being particularly obnoxious or irritating. It gave me a wicked sense of satisfaction to sit near him picturing in great detail every single lewd act Emmett and I had ever tried, until Edward would throw down whatever he was doing and storm away. We all had used various methods to divert Edward's mind reading abilities at times (Alice favoured foreign language vocabulary reviews and Jasper would recite the intricate and endless Whitlock family tree in an effort to bore him to death, while Emmett enjoyed mentally singing country music and cheesy pop to irritate him) but no one knew what I did. At least not until the time I imagined, graphically, Emmett bending me over Edward's piano and taking me from behind and Edward tore the top off the grand piano in a rage and smashed it over Emmett's head. I had to confess what I'd been doing then, although when I admitted that it wasn't something that had ever even happened (I mean, _Edward's_ piano? Ew!) Edward lost his temper completely and picked up what remained of the piano and threw it through the plate glass window.

Emmett's hand slid down between my legs and began rubbing gently, interrupting my thoughts. I opened my legs a little, to allow him easier access, and kissed him long and deeply. "Have I told you today that I love you?" I said quietly.

"You might have mentioned it." He dropped his face to my breast and licked my nipple with the tip of his tongue, making me shiver. "Works out well though baby doll, because I think I want to keep you right here with me for a good while yet…" and then we didn't talk anymore as he showed me once again, with mouth and hands and cock, just how very, very, much he loved and wanted me.

* * *

Chapter 4- Enter Bella.

"Why do you always leave these to the last minute?" Jasper, writing so fast his pen would have been a blur to human eyes, sounded more amused than exasperated.

"Couldn't be assed last night," Emmett said cheerfully, scribbling equally fast in the notebook on his lap.

Sitting beside him in the car on the way to school, I rolled my eyes. "You'd think after going through high school so many times you might have a better grasp of how to manage your homework. You're so _human_ about this kind of thing!"

At the wheel, Edward chuckled and caught my eye in the rearview mirror with a grin. "There's still last week's trig homework in his bag that he was about to ask you to finish for him."

Emmett smiled at me charmingly, and I snorted and pulled out the other notebook. "Hopeless."

"There was a game on!" Emmett protested. "It's not like I don't know the stuff, I just ran out of time to write it down and it's a new textbook so I don't have it from some other time to hand in! Oh, fucking bloody fucking shit!" Under too much pressure from his formidable grip and rapid writing the pen he was using had snapped, spreading ink blots across the page. "Of all the motherfucking pieces of shit!"

"Never mind," Jasper tossed the book he was writing in towards Alice, who caught it and slotted it neatly back into Emmett's bag. "I've finished your history- Spanish influenza epidemic, you should have got Edward to do it really- give it here, I'll finish it for you."

Emmett handed over the notebook and wiped ink from his fingers on jeans. "Thanks pal." He rummaged in his bag and came up with a pencil, which he used to finish off the homework I'd half completed before he scrawled his name across the top with a flourish. Just in time, as we pulled into the school parking lot. Emmett collected up his books and stuffed them haphazardly into his backpack, flashing a grin around the car. "Thanks you guys, appreciate it. Don't want to be the family fuck up who fails high school…again."

I squeezed his hand. Emmett seemed pathologically unable to keep his focus on the (admittedly boring) high school curriculum and completing his homework. Sure, he had the same vampire photographic memory as the rest of us and decades of school attendance behind him so it was not as if difficulty with the work was the problem, it was simply that he was always doing other things and procrastinating. It was a very human sort of behaviour, but we were supposed to try and blend in and avoid attracting excessive attention at school, and having Emmett put on academic probation didn't really help that. He always aced the exams, we all did, but as schools were placing more importance on work completed throughout the semester, homework had become a boring but necessary part of maintaining the façade.

We walked across the parking lot, through the light misty rain, towards the school. I knew people were watching us, they always did, so I held my head high and added a slight swing to my hips. Stupid really, what did it matter what they thought of me? Somehow for me it _did_ matter, and I clung to the role of beautiful bitch that I played so well. Beside me Emmett gave me a sideways look and slid a hand possessively across my back. "Watch it, baby doll," he murmured. "Move that ass like that again and I might find something else to do with you besides go to class right now…"

Ahead of us Alice and Jasper walked together, Alice half skipping to keep up with his longer strides, swinging their clasped hands between them. She was talking to him, low and fast, and I noticed the set of his shoulders. It really didn't take Edward's mind reading ability to see how hard it was for Jasper to be in school and in such close contact with so much temptation. I hoped he would go hunting tonight and stop pushing himself to his limits- the last thing I wanted was an incident that would make us move again.

We separated at our lockers, going off to our different classes. I had English first period and sat in my usual desk near the window. No one sat beside me in this class, there were extra tables and the humans unconsciously avoided me, the predator hidden in the herd. I didn't mind. I checked my hair in the reflection in the glass and listened to the chatter of conversation around me. I teased Emmett about being such a human high schooler, but the truth was I was fascinated by that very thing. While pretending to ignore it all I was hyper aware of the conversations of my classmates and followed the tiny dramas of their lives avidly. Sometimes I imagined what it would be like to be one of them, a human girl in this time and place _._

 _I would probably be a cheerleader,_ I admitted to myself _, and Emmett would be on the football team. Before games I'd gossip with the other girls and borrow their lip gloss, and I'd cheer in front of the crowd, loving the attention and accolades. And after the game Emmett would pick me up and we'd go down to the diner in town with the other kids and have hamburgers and milkshakes, and sneak a beer down at the beach afterwards._

My ridiculous fantasy came to an abrupt stop with the arrival of the teacher and the disgusted response from my body at the thought of a hamburger. There was nothing appealing about the idea of ground up beef or bread rolls to me anymore, I'd been a vampire so long, but my fantasy hardly worked if I included images of sucking blood. A cheerleading vampire? I don't think so. With an inaudible sigh, I turned my attention to the front of the classroom. I could teach this stupid class myself, but appearances needed to be maintained so I picked up a pencil and began writing notes.

I didn't see the rest of my family until lunch period. I went through the cafeteria line and, hiding my distaste, paid for a salad. The human façade, again. At least I was a girl and it would raise no eyebrows if I only bought a small meal, fiddled with it for the lunch period, and then threw it out. Eating disorders amongst the teen population was depressingly high.

I was first, and I took my place at our usual table. It was by the door to the courtyard and had windows behind it that could be opened without notice so that even on the coldest days, we could breathe in the fresh air to dilute the scent of so much human prey crowded together. Jasper struggled the most with resisting this temptation, but he wasn't the only one who found it hard.

I saw Emmett enter the cafeteria and join the end of the line, the people in front of him unconsciously shifting away from his size. I admired the way his butt looked in his jeans and as if he sensed my gaze he turned and winked at me. Alice and Jasper drifted in and stood behind him to purchase their unnecessary lunches. Several minutes later Edward slouched in and soon after that we were all together at the table.

Most of the attention, as we prodded at the food on our trays, was on Jasper. His eyes were black with thirst and his nostrils flared as he scented the blood all around him. I could tell Edward and Alice were having some silent communication about him, but there was nothing I could really add to it.

Emmett tried to distract Jasper with some talk but when he was unsuccessful and Jasper even snapped at Alice, we all fell silent. Alice took her tray and left, leaving the four of us staring moodily at each other with little to say.

Edward seemed a little distracted too, and I followed the line of his gaze to a table of juniors. Amongst the familiar faces was one I did not know- a slight, dark haired girl that I looked at without much interest. She was the first new student to show up at Forks High School since we had arrived, and that made her hot news in the small school. Edward caught me looking at him. "Jessica Stanley is giving the new Swan girl all the dirty laundry on the Cullen clan," he murmured.

Emmett smirked, and even I smiled briefly. Emmett got a kick out of being the centre of interest and speculation amongst the student body and loved hearing Edward tell tales of some of the theories and opinions surrounding our unconventional family.

"Rather unimaginative, actually. Just the barest hint of scandal. Not an ounce of horror. I'm a little disappointed," Edward said, in response to a silent comment from Emmett. He turned his eyes back to the new girl.

Emmett turned to me, his back to the crowd, and bared his fangs. "No horror? We're slipping baby doll, might have to do something to get this crowd going soon…"

He was joking of course, but it wasn't the most tactful thing to say in front of Jasper who, if he didn't hunt soon, quite possibly _would_ do something that would bring a whole new level of horror and fear to Forks high school. I knew we had to get out of the cafeteria and give Jasper a break by walking in the clean cold air outside to the other buildings for our next classes. I rose to my feet, taking my tray of uneaten but artfully rearranged salad in my hands. "Shall we?" I murmured to the boys, who obediently stood up also, and the four of us went to our next class.

Jasper and I shared a history class next, which I was glad about. If any subject would distract him from his thirst it was the 'Wars and Revolutions' history unit we were taking this semester. Jasper was highly entertained by studying eras he'd lived through, and was having a delightful time this semester picking apart our teacher's assessment of the American civil war. It did little to endear him to the teacher, and as he sat silent and morose through today's lesson I thought Mr Cartwright was probably quite glad.

Emmett, Alice, Jasper and I were waiting in the car after the final bell when Edward slid into the driver's seat, breathing in deep gulps of fresh air, his eyes blazing with…rage? I wasn't sure, but as he threw the car into reverse and slammed us out of the parking lot I knew that something was seriously wrong.

"Edward?" Alice asked, alarm clear in her voice.

Emmett was more blunt about it. "What the hell happened to you?"

Edward's only answer was to floor the accelerator as he headed towards home. Jasper, Emmett and I looked towards Alice, hoping for enlightenment, but she just shrugged. Her eyes went unfocused for a moment and I could tell she was searching out Edward's future. Her eyes widened as she looked at him, and she said, "You're leaving?"

"Am I?" Edward snarled. Clearly whatever Alice was seeing was not something he had definitively made his mind up about.

What followed was one of their irritating dialogues that consisted of vague words and half sentences, as they each picked the threads of the conversation out of each other's minds. It ended when, the rest of us none the wiser, Edward dropped us at the turn off towards home and turned the car with a screech, heading back towards Forks and Carlisle at the hospital.

"What the hell is going on?" Emmett demanded of Alice.

Alice's face was blank with shock. It was not often that her gift of foresight failed her and she was surprised like this. What had Edward _done_?

"The new girl," she said in wonderment. "Bella Swan…it's _her._ The girl I've been seeing for so many years is here, in Forks, and Edward…oh, he is suffering so much and it's only going to get worse…"

"What?" I snapped in exasperation. "Perhaps a coherent explanation for the non psychic among us? What has he done?"

"Nothing _yet_ ," Alice whispered. "But he wants to…he wants her. He's thirsting for her like nothing he's ever desired before. He's treading such a dangerous line right now, I keep seeing things change, he's just not sure…I hope he can hold fast to what he knows is the right thing!"

We all exchanged stunned glances. Edward, possibly losing control? I noticed the flash of relief on Jasper's face ( _at least it's not me this time)_ and asked Alice sharply, "So he's leaving Forks? Where's he going? How long?"

"If he doesn't go to the Swan house now…" Alice paused. "No, it's alright, he's going to see Carlisle for sure. It just keeps changing! Alaska. He's going to Denali, that's a good idea, he'll be safe from the temptation there." Sighing, she turned towards home. "I don't know how long he'll be gone. He doesn't know. Come on, we had better go and tell Esme."

* * *

Chapter 5- The absence of Edward.

Edward was gone for a week.

On the surface our lives went on as usual. We went to school and did our homework. I gave Esme and Alice manicures and pedicures. I stripped and rebuilt the engine in Emmett's jeep. I painted my bedroom a deep rose pink over Emmett's protestations. Jasper and I arranged enough dominoes into the Cullen crest that it filled the living room, and then we ceremoniously tipped the first one and watched them fall. I went hunting with Emmett and made wild, unrestrained love out in the forest, far from prying eyes and listening ears. I knitted with Alice and played Monopoly with Esme and cribbage with Carlisle.

I missed Edward's piano music.

Underneath it all ran a deep feeling of unease. Edward's flight was so out of character for him and left so many unanswered questions. All of us were on edge, waiting for something to happen.

So many of the questions centred around Bella Swan. I didn't have any classes with her of course, but I watched for her at school and often caught sight of her in the halls or the cafeteria. My sharp eyes noticed the way her gaze always flicked to our table when she entered, and the brief flash of disappointment…was she looking for Edward? I didn't understand it. She was pretty, in a plain sort of way, and listening to her conversations with friends she seemed quiet and reserved, but kind and fairly intelligent. But it was all just _unremarkable_. What was there in this girl with the dark brown eyes that had driven my brother away in torment?

I even followed her into the girls bathroom one day, although it was a place I detested, and stood beside her at the sinks washing my hands and staring at our reflections in the mirror. I could tell by the way she ducked her head away and let her hair fall between us that she was aware of my presence and uncomfortable in it. She did smell sweet, and the sleeping monster of my thirst raised its head and made my throat burn, but it was little harder to subdue it than it ever was.

After school I went out to the garage. There was nothing out there to do, I'd done it all and then some, but I always felt better with tools in my hands and the smell of engines and grease in my nose. I admired the engine of my BMW convertible for a while and then slammed the hood and sat in the driver's seat, hands on the wheel. I loved my car. I didn't get to drive it nearly enough though, a red BMW convertible was considered too showy for Forks so for the time being I was stuck driving to and from school in Edward's Volvo. Edward. A love of cars was the one common ground between us, and I wondered gloomily when I'd be seeing him again.

I heard whistling and footsteps, but I didn't move as Emmett entered the garage and swung himself into the car beside me. "Hey, gorgeous. What's doing?"

"I saw Bella Swan today," I told him after a pause. "I just don't understand what Edward's problem is."

Emmett shrugged easily. "Who can understand Edward's problems? He's a complicated kind of guy. Maybe he'll get laid up in Denali and chill out a bit? Tanya would be up for that, she's always had him in her sights."

I scowled. "I know. But…Bella Swan? She does smell good, I'll give her that, better than most…but even so. Do you think she's pretty?"

Emmett raised his eyebrows at me. "I think _you're_ pretty."

I couldn't help laughing. "I know that! I was thinking about Edward. But surely it's not that, she's not _that_ pretty, although I'm not a guy, so that's why I was asking you!"

Emmett lifted me up and pulled me across his lap, so I was straddling his thighs and we were face to face. He looked at me with eyes as clear and guileless as a child, and smiled tenderly. "I know what you were asking, and that's what I was answering. I think _you're_ pretty- you're beautiful- and I don't even see those girls at school like that. Sometimes I smell them and I want the blood, I won't lie about that, but I never look at them and think of them in any other way. Why would I, when I have the most beautiful girl in the world here at home…in my bed…in my lap…" His voice turned husky and trailed off, as he cupped his hands against my rear and pressed a trail of kisses across my face, ending at my lips.

I opened my mouth to his tongue and slid my arms around his neck, twining my fingers in his curly dark hair. I felt him getting hard underneath me and I squirmed slightly, rubbing myself against the growing bulge in his jeans. Emmett groaned and pushed back against me. "God baby doll, do you know what you do to me?"

"Love you, want you, need you," I whispered. " _Make you mine."_ Suddenly flooded with desperate desire I grabbed at the waistband of his pants and pulled, hard enough to snap the button and break the zip, freeing his erection and wrapping my hands around it.

In response Emmett reached under my skirt and tore off my panties and then grabbed my hips, holding me poised just above his ready and waiting cock. "Yes?" he muttered, nipping at my neck.

" _Oh yes,_ " I breathed, and in one move sank down onto him, taking in the full length of his throbbing cock and loving the sound of his involuntary moan of pleasure. " _Mine."_ I pulled at my shirt and bra, not caring if they tore, just needing to get them off. My breasts bare at last, Emmett dropped his head and began licking and sucking at my nipples and I hummed in satisfaction and rocked my hips. I rode him hard, holding his wrists so that he couldn't touch me, setting a fast pace that all too soon had him bucking beneath me, head thrown back and whole body shuddering as he came. It wasn't until he was done that I slipped a hand down to where we were still joined and touched myself until I orgasmed, shivering as I pressed my forehead to his, maintaining eye contact even as the waves of pleasure rolled through me, leaving me limp and relaxed. " _Love you, want you, need you, love you…"_

"I don't ever want anyone but you," Emmett told me quietly. "Remember that Rosa girl. _Only you._ Because you're smart and beautiful and so fucking sexy that I could probably throw you on the hood and do you again right now, if you wouldn't kick my ass for damaging your damn car!" he finished with a laugh, and I laughed too, loving him all over again for being him.

I borrowed his shirt to walk back inside mine, having been damaged beyond repair. Not one for modesty Emmett strolled beside me wearing only his jeans, holding them up since they no longer zipped or buttoned, the tattered remains of our clothes in his other hand hand. Entering through the kitchen he tossed them at a trash can and then pumped his fist in the air in triumph. "Alright…score!"

"So I see," Jasper remarked from where he was sitting at the table reading a newspaper, side eying Emmett's dishevelled appearance. "I do wonder about you two sometimes." He swept his eyes across me, noting the lack of underwear and then looked at Emmett with a grin. "I suppose you are keeping my stocks in La Perla profitable, at any rate."

"Oh ha ha, very funny," I snapped, heading towards the stairs. Living as we did we'd all been caught in compromising positions at times, but I had to admit that Emmett and I were the most often at fault. What could I say? I saw no reason to be modest when I knew full well how I looked, and Emmett tended to have sex as he did most things- exuberantly and without much discretion or thought for consequences.

He disappeared into the laundry room and came back with a pair of sweatpants slung low on his hips. Just the sight of his broad shoulders and muscular chest made my body respond, and I felt a brief throb between my legs. Would I ever get tired of this? We'd had decades together, and I still wanted him as fiercely and passionately as I had the first day I saw him.

I was halfway up the stairs when there were footsteps rushing towards me and Alice reached me and caught my hands in hers. Her face was alight with happiness as she told us, in her musical voice, "I've just seen Edward. He's coming home. I don't know what is going to happen with Bella, but Edward is coming home."

* * *

Chapter 6- Playing Games.

Edward did return home, and it was probably only half an hour later that I wished he'd stayed away. His constant tormented presence was nearly unbearable, and the pall of gloom it laid over the rest of us was nearly impossible to escape.

On his first day back at school we gathered in the cafeteria as usual during the lunch period. Edward looked pained and made no pretence of eating lunch. We knew he would have biology class next and we were all anxious as to how he would handle such close proximity to Bella Swan.

"Go back home," Jasper suggested. "Just ditch, it won't matter." He kept his face carefully bland, but I suspected he was enjoying not being the centre of our concerned attention for once.

"I think it will be fine," Alice's lovely elfin face looked slightly harassed as she mentally flipped through images of potential futures. "I'm nearly sure…"

"Just go to class," Emmett said carelessly, as he took the hamburger off his plate and, without looking, flipped it into the trash can behind our table at a speed that would be nearly invisible to human eyes. "Get it over with…whatever happens, we'll deal with it."

Edward shook his head with a grimace. "I won't do that do her Emmett."

Emmett shrugged. "Probably not. But if it does, then it does and you kill a human. It's not the end of the world buddy."

"You would know," Edward snapped.

"Yeah well, we've all slipped up at times." Emmett raised his hands in surrender. "I'm just saying. You fuck up and then you get over it. Eternity is a long time to wallow in guilt, you know?"

Jasper scowled and Alice put a placating hand on his. When it came to human deaths, he had the most blood on his hands, although it had been a long time now since any of us had made that mistake. "Let's not argue about it," Alice said calmly. "Your mind is set Edward, I'm almost sure you'll make it through the class."

I got to my feet and tossed my lunch in the trash bin behind us. "Well, as thrilling as sitting here agonising over Bella Swan is, I've got gym. So I'm going to go and have the much greater thrill of pretending I can't run or hit a ball. Coming Emmett?"

Edward scowled at me but I ignored him and headed out of the cafeteria, Emmett following behind me, grumbling.

"Fucking gym," he complained. "I know we've got all the time in the world, but to waste an hour on this shit?"

I bumped him with my hip and gave him a smile. "I know. But it does mean I get to watch you in your gym shorts." I had reached my locker and was pulling out my own rather less attractive gym outfit and a pair of sneakers as Emmett laughed.

"Yeah, yeah little Miss Sunshine…see you on the field."

I changed quickly, despising my baggy gym shorts and crumpled t shirt, avoiding the other girls chatting as they changed. Everyone in my family hated gym. To have to spend a class on physical activity and concentrate, every single second, on holding back and appearing human was torturous. Even more we had to appear unremarkable, which meant carefully placing ourselves in the middle of the athletic pack of students. Naturally competitive I hated losing at anything, and to throw any kind of game or contest on purpose was practically an affront to Emmett's personal code of ethics, so the two of us had a particularly difficult time with it. Unfortunately gym credits were required for graduation, which is why I found myself in the ridiculous position of wearing ugly athletic clothes and sulking either in the gym or on a muddy field three times a week in my last semester as a senior.

Today it was not actually raining, despite the cover of threatening grey clouds, so once I was changed I walked out to the field and sat dispiritedly in the stands, watching glumly as the gym teacher and his assistant set up bases and laid out bats and balls. Baseball. Just wonderful. Other students came out and clustered around the home plate but I didn't move until I heard a shout from Emmett and saw him jogging over to me. "Come on, baby doll!"

I stepped down the stands, then jumped the last two seats, Emmett catching me effortlessly in his strong arms. He squeezed briefly and then flipped me onto his back and gave me a piggy back across the field. I wrapped my arms around his neck and laughed, letting one long blond braid fall forward to tickle his cheek. It was slightly too perfect, and I regretted showing off as my supernatural hearing caught the sound of my name from two girls who were leaning against the cage and gossiping.

"That Rosalie Cullen is such a freak," one of them muttered. "Cullen, Hale, whatever her name is…hasn't she ever heard of fake tan? And the way she is with her brother, that's just gross."

"He's not really her brother," her friend whispered. "You know they're all adopted and stuff."

"Well maybe, but they still live together and it's just weird. And look at the size of him, he _has_ to be taking steroids or something, no other senior is built like that," the first girl went on. "His locker is near Ella's, so I was standing there the other day when he got his books, and it's just like..woah. You should NOT be in school buddy."

The other girl giggled nervously. "He scares the shit out of me, honestly he does. I can just imagine him getting into some kind of mad 'roid rage and rampaging through the school breaking people's necks."

Still on Emmett's back, I could feel him shaking with suppressed laughter, and I leaned forward and hid my own smile in his dark hair. "If only they knew…" I murmured to him.

The girl who had first spoken laughed at her friend's comment. "Yeah, I can see that…they're all kind of freaky in that family. The younger brother though, the redhead junior?…He's not bad, I'd hit that."

I turned my head and gave them a cool look and their conversation stumbled to a stop. They couldn't believe I had heard them from where I was, but in the face of my sharp gaze they weren't going to continue.

"Mr Cullen, Miss Hale, if you'd like to come and join us?" the coach called sarcastically.

I slid off Emmett's back, giving his ass a brief squeeze as I did so and then went and joined the class for the tedious business of picking teams. Emmett was chosen fairly early on, my name was called at the tail end of proceedings, and I drifted over to join Emmett in the batting line up.

He scuffed his shoes in the dirt irritably. "Hate playing this at school," he muttered under his breath. "Haven't had a decent hit in ages, we need a good storm."

I blandly inspected my fingernails. "Well, you're up, go and pick a bat and for goodness' sake try and rein it in a little."

Emmett went over to the bat selection and, like the other boys, tried out a couple of practice swings. He tossed his bat from hand to hand and then flipped it in the air, catching it one handed. I frowned, and watched the first two players take their turns, waiting for Emmett.

It wasn't a good day for him. Baseball was his favourite sport and it went against every instinct he had to slow down his swing. I could tell he was trying, but even so the bat made contact with a noise like a gunshot and the ball went sailing off the field. Emmett jogged round the bases for a home run, sending the two boys ahead of him home as well. I noticed, amongst the congratulatory hand slaps and back pats for the others, that no one touched Emmett as he crossed the plate and sat down beside me.

"Sorry," he muttered. "I fucked that up, didn't mean it to hit that hard."

I touched his thigh. "They'll be on at you to join a team if you keep that up."

We watched silently until I heard my name called, and then I stood up and took a bat from nearby. "Watch and learn child, this is how you remain inconspicuous."

I stalked out to the plate, carefully and deliberately struck out three times, then handed the bat back to the disgruntled team captain and dropped on to the bench besides Emmett. "See? Perfectly done."

"Yeah, thanks for the lesson Rose," Emmett said ungraciously. "Of course you're always perfect…"

"Watch your manners my boy, or I'll have to remind you of them," I said archly, and Emmett, good humour restored, smirked at me.

"Is that a promise?"

My eyes shone, and I delicately poked the very tip of my tongue out at him. "Wait and see."

Emmett chuckled, and took my hand. Not caring about the audience I raised it to my mouth and kissed his knuckles, opening my mouth enough to scratch at his skin with my teeth. He swallowed hard and shook his head at me. "My gorgeous girl, are you _trying_ to drive me crazy or what?"

I leaned against his shoulder and stared ahead at the game. "Just playing…isn't that what our whole life is? Playing games?"

Emmett had no answer to that, and the two of us fell into a thoughtful silence.

* * *

Chapter 7- Fractures.

Things began to fracture the next day.

We were early to school, Edward's anxiety over Bella Swan driving us all to distraction. Glad to be rid of him I left him with Alice in the parking lot and Emmett, Jasper and I strode into the building. Jasper disappeared into the computer lab and Emmett and I decided to be typical high schoolers and make out behind a bank of lockers. I was just thinking that this might have been a bad idea and I'd started something that couldn't finish when there was a sudden commotion from the end of the hall.

"Something's going on," I said, cocking my head to listen. "In the parking lot."

I looked at Emmett and the same thought entered our heads simultaneously. _Edward._ Emmett slipped his hands back out of my shirt, helpfully adjusting it for me, and then rearranged his pants to make his erection slightly less obvious. I sighed as we moved towards the outer doors- what a waste.

Jasper joined us as we passed the computer lab, his face set. "There's been some kind of accident outside," he said, his voice low and fast. "I heard the shouting…it's the new girl."

As one, moving as swiftly as we dared, we hurried outside. I could see a crowd gathered around a van with shattered windows, a van that sat crookedly against the ancient truck that we all knew Bella Swan drove. I couldn't see past the students but Emmett, taller than me, craned his neck to see.

"Edward's in the middle of that mess," he reported anxiously. "He's okay. Whatever happened there's no blood, anyway."

"Let me see," I demanded sharply, and Emmett lifted me effortlessly up to sit on his shoulder so I could see what was going on. The van must have skidded, on the ice perhaps, and crashed into Bella's truck. Into Bella's truck, and into _Edward_ , I amended furiously, as I realised part of the van was crumpled around the shoulders of my brother, who knelt on the asphalt with Bella Swan in his arms. Emmett had been right though, there was no blood and as I watched I could see the girl struggling to sit up.

Edward glanced up and I could tell he saw me, so I shouted a long stream of mental abuse in his direction. Not acknowledging anything he looked back to Bella, but I could tell he'd heard me. Across the parking lot I saw Alice standing in front of our car, her hands over her mouth and her eyes wide with shock.

I slid down from my perch on Emmett's shoulder. "I'm going to ask Alice what happened," I said curtly. "It would seem our jackass brother has somehow got himself involved in a car accident. Emmett, you'd better try and get to him and see if he needs any help." Whatever Edward had done, however many insults and however much invective we might throw at him, we would always help a family member out of trouble.

Jasper and I skirted the crowd, heading towards Alice. Emmett shouldered his way through the crowd to reach Edward and see what needed doing.

"Please tell me that fool has not done what it would appear he has," I said sharply to Alice when I reached her.

She shook her head at me. "The van was going to hit her. He was over here with me and he ran to save her. I mean, he _really_ ran, no one could have possibly seen him." She rubbed her temples. The whole situation with Edward and Bella Swan had her working hard to try and see the future, a future that kept changing. A future that all of a sudden held a host of dangers, because my stupid brother had to interfere and now this insignificant human Bella Swan knew too much.

We watched as the ambulance arrived and began loading up the casualties. As all eyes were on Bella being fitted with a neckbrace and lifted into the ambulance, her face suffused with the blood of embarrassment (I had a momentary and involuntary flash of sympathy for Edward, as I could imagine what that show of blood so close to the surface and accessible would be doing to him) I noticed Edward leaning against the van and using his heel to smooth out the indentation of his shoulders in the crumpled metal. At least he's thinking that much, I thought acerbically. He exchanged a glance with Emmett and then climbed into the ambulance beside Bella Swan.

"When I get my hands on him he's going to need a lot more than an ambulance," I said under my breath. Alice pretended not to hear, but Jasper gave me a look of understanding.

Emmett, feigning simple curiosity alongside several other students, examined the crash scene once it was free of victims, and then jogged over to us. "You can't tell anything from that now," he told us. "Only bloody Edward would stop a freaking car with his shoulders!" He was obviously looking at the humour in the situation, but catching my furious glare he sighed and shrugged. "He's banged out the imprint of his shoulders in the van, so there's no evidence there. The girl hit her head pretty hard, so maybe she won't remember much."

Alice looked doubtful, and I hissed through my teeth. Emmett looked back across the parking lot thoughtfully. Jasper was the one who eventually got us moving. "We need to go to class now," he said quietly. "There's nothing we can do now but trust Edward to handle the immediate situation. I'll call Carlisle at the hospital soon, and when we know more we can make plans. Obviously the situation is not a good one, but we can handle it. We _will_ handle it, Rose," he added firmly, sensing my fury.

I could feel him using his talents on me, calming me down, and as much as I resented the manipulation it did give me a cooler head to assess what had happened and admit he was right. While part of me wanted to run after Edward and Bella Swan and destroy them both, I had worked too long and too hard at this human façade to let it fail now. So I took a deep breath, gave my siblings a tight lipped smile, and then accompanied them into the building, where we went our separate ways.

Edward did not appear in the cafeteria at lunch time. Too angry and restless to sit still, I went for a swift walk outside, moving from the school yard into the forest that grew right down to the fence line. Emmett came with me, swinging himself from tree to tree like some overgrown monkey, trying to make me laugh and lighten my mood.

"C'mon Rosalie!" he exclaimed at last, exasperated by my moody silence. He dropped from a tree branch thirty feet above my head and landed in front of me, as light as a cat. "It's going to be fine! We'll fix this shit, you know we always handle whatever comes up."

I shifted restlessly, scenting the game close by in the forest, but I wasn't thirsty. "I know we do Emmett. I know we handle things…but it's just how we're going to manage this one, you know? I don't want to move again, not now. We've nearly finished high school again, and I do NOT want to go back to being a fucking sophomore again right now!"

Emmett nodded fervently. It was a stretch to pass him off as a sophomore, and he wasn't keen to play that little game again. "Maybe we won't have to. Maybe she didn't really see anything."

"And maybe she did." I turned my head back to school. "Either way, I'm thinking that Bella Swan is becoming more than a headache. It's not just the inconvenience of moving Emmett, it could be a lot more dangerous than that for all of us, and everyone knows that. I think we need to handle it once and for all."

Emmett took my hand as we walked back to school and, tired of conflict, I let him. "Just hold tight," he said finally, as we separated at the door to the school. "Jasper spoke to Carlisle and we're all going to talk about it after school. I've got Spanish with Edward now –if he's there- and maybe I'll find out something new. Just hold it together Rose, and we'll sort it out."

* * *

Chapter 8- The conflict of love.

Edward was in the Spanish class, and he and Emmett walked out to the car together after it was over. Edward's face was carefully blank and he looked none of us in the eye as he unlocked the car and slid into the driver's seat. Emmett looked troubled and gave me only a distracted kiss before he swung into the front seat beside Edward. Seething, I flung myself into the backseat beside Jasper, who sat with his arms folded and his face neutral. Alice took Jasper's other side, her face creased with concern.

" _Well I hope you're happy now, you irresponsible fool!,"_ I mentally threw at Edward. _"You are a stupid damn idiot to behave so recklessly! You better have something good to say when we get home, because you've put us all in danger with your idiocy over this girl!"_ I could tell by the way Edward's lips twitched that he was hearing me and wanting to snap back, but he maintained control and it was an outwardly silent ride home. I thought it likely that Edward and Alice were communicating through their psychic abilities and once again I wished savagely that they weren't able to do that. I hated being kept in the dark.

Before the car was even stopped in the garage I threw open my door and swept out of the car. I heard a quiet murmur between Edward and Alice but I ignored them as I stamped into the house. I could hear Carlisle and Esme talking in the dining room and so I headed in there.

Carlisle sat at one end of the long dining table, Esme beside him holding his hand. Of course we had no need of a table to eat at, but our house was furnished with all the correct accoutrements for a human dwelling. And living as we did, in a group with such strong and disparate personalities, a place to sit and discuss issues calmly was sometimes a necessity.

I knew Carlisle would oppose my views, and I did not want to sit near to Esme and see her distress over this division in her family, so I took the chair at the opposite end of the long table, facing Carlisle rather than Esme, and folded my arms.

As the others came I watched to see what they would do. Naturally Edward sat beside Carlisle. Emmett looked unhappy, and I knew he disliked standing against Edward. His easy going nature didn't really understand the depth of my feelings about Edward's recklessness exposing us, but he came and sat beside me anyway and gave me a tired smile. "Got your back baby doll," he said quietly, and even under the rage I felt a sudden rush of tenderness towards my man. Alice drifted in and sat down distractedly beside Esme, although she was so deep in her visions I don't know how conscious a choice this was. Jasper came in last, pausing in the doorway and assessing the room, and then coming to my end of the room, leaning against the wall behind me rather than being seated. Interesting.

Edward spoke first. "I'm sorry," he said, looking directly at me for the first time all afternoon. "I do realise that my actions today have placed everyone at risk. Obviously that was not my intention…I was thoughtless and for that I apologise. I take full responsibility for my actions."

"Full responsibility?" I bit out. "So you're going to fix everything, are you?"

"Not the way you and Jasper are thinking." Edward's voice was quiet. "I shall leave if it makes things better, but Bella must not be harmed."

"You can't leave," Esme whispered. "Stay Edward, please. There will be another way to resolve things."

"You can't go," Emmett objected. "We need you, more now than ever, to see what people are thinking and hear whatever the girl is going to say."

"I agree with Emmett," Carlisle interjected. "Your talents are too valuable to us, particularly at such a vulnerable time. We need to know what people are thinking. If you were to leave, alone…well, that would create talk. Perhaps all of us should leave."

"No," I said flatly. "We are NOT moving now. Emmett and Jasper and I are close to graduating, there is no way I want to start over at high school again! And I want to stay _here_ , with all this damn endless rain that means we can almost be _normal…"_ I bit my lip, hard.

"Bella is not going to say anything," Edward insisted softly.

"You don't know that!" I exploded. "You can't read her mind, you don't know _what_ she's going to do!"

"I know that much!" Edward sounded almost agitated. "Alice, tell her…Bella's not going to say anything."

Alice rubbed her eyes and looked hopelessly in my direction. "I can't see that. I can't see what happens if we just leave this. If Rosalie and Jasper won't even think about changing their minds…" Her voice trailed off. I knew what she didn't want to say. If Jasper and I had our way, there would be no Bella Swan alive to keep her mouth shut or not.

I fought to maintain control and sound reasonable as Edward glowered at me. "We can't give her the _chance_ to say anything! Carlisle, you _must_ see that! It's not safe to have someone who can run and tell tales of superhuman speed and strength. Even if we all leave, it's dangerous to leave stories and rumours behind."

"There have been stories before," Edward reminded me. "We've left other places amongst rumours."

I scowled at him fiercely. "Yes, rumours and suspicions, not eyewitnesses and evidence! We live so differently to the others of our kind and you know that there are those who would love to point fingers and destroy what we've built here!" Unwillingly I remembered dark vaults under the city of Volterra and ancient vampires with blood red eyes and I shuddered. Never again.

Jasper spoke up. His voice sounded almost indifferent, and I was reminded that he had once been a soldier who thought tactically at great cost to human life. "Rosalie is right. The girl knows too much. We _need_ to do something."

"It doesn't have to be a big drama," I jumped in, glad to have an ally. "You said she hit her head today…so maybe that turns out to be more serious than was first thought. Doctors make mistakes…," I hesitated and Carlisle inclined his head to accept my point, "and if she were to go to sleep tonight and not wake up it would not raise undue suspicions." I looked directly at Carlisle, ignoring the thunderous look on Edward's face. "It's not personal. It's about keeping ALL of us safe. You _know_ I can do it. Quick and clean and no evidence left behind. You know I have the control."

"Oh yes, we all know what a proficient assassin you are, Rosalie!" Edward shouted, his icy self-control cracking. "We all know what YOU are capable of!"

Rage rose in me like a white hot flame and I slammed my hand down on the table, careless of my own strength, and felt it crack under my hand as I half rose in my chair and snarled at Edward. " _Don't you DARE talk to me about that! You know nothing!"_

It was only when Emmett's steady hand touched my arm that I realised how badly I was trembling, and I sank back into my chair. Under the table I gripped Emmett's hand hard enough to crush stone, but his immense strength was more than a match for mine and he only squeezed back gently. His other hand rubbed my thigh and I took comfort from his steadfast presence.

"Edward, Rosalie, please!" Carlisle ran a hand through his hair and thought deeply. "I do understand how you feel Rosalie, Jasper," he said finally. "But you know I cannot condone the death of an innocent. If we seek to kill in order to protect ourselves, then is what we have really worth protecting?" He glanced around the table. "There are times when we make mistakes, when our control slips, and that is an unfortunate and regrettable part of living this difficult life we have chosen."

This time he looked directly at me, and I knew from the compassion and love in his eyes that I had lost, and deep inside I felt small and ashamed for what I had tried to do here. "I looked the other way back in Rochester," he said gently. "I did not agree with what you were doing Rosalie, but I understood that in that situation you needed vengeance and I accepted that it was your choice to make. But this situation is not that one. Bella Swan is an innocent child and I would ask you to see the difference and respect my wishes in this situation."

I sat back in my seat, my silence giving assent. Edward nodded at me, but I looked away without responding.

Jasper stepped forward now, and placed his hands lightly on the table but remained standing. "I'm sorry Carlisle, but I believe it has to be done. None of you have lived like I have, amongst the wars and violence that our kind is capable of inflicting upon each other. I have no wish to live like that again, and I will not allow Alice to be put in danger. I'm sorry Edward, but it has to end now, before it goes too far. Rosalie is no doubt capable of more discretion than I, but I will take care of the matter if that's the way it has to be."

"Jas," Alice interrupted. "Wait. I know you want to protect me –thank you- but it won't happen that way."

Jasper's resolve slipped for a moment, and then Alice smiled suddenly, happiness making her face radiant. "Indeed Jasper my love, you can't possibly hurt Bella now. It's not just Edward. I love Bella too…at least, I'm _going to,_ and I'll be most put out if you hurt her."

"Love her… _too?"_ Edward breathed in shock, and for a moment there was silence around the table as we absorbed this new fact. For yes, Edward DID love Bella Swan…and how typically Edward to fall in love with a human and not even realise it! Fool!

"I'll go away," Edward said harshly. "It's not like you see it Alice, I will not do that to her!...No!...You've said yourself, it's not exact, these things _can_ be changed and I _will_ change that…Never!"

"What?" Emmett bellowed. "What the hell are you two going on about now? For fuck's sake, talk so that the rest of us can follow!"

Alice gave him a level gaze. "There are only two possible outcomes now. Either Edward kills her himself – and it's going to take the most intense control not to do that- or else she becomes one of us." She looked at Edward and smiled. "I shall be so angry if you kill her Edward, not to mention what it would do to you…but those really are the only two options. You may be strong enough not to kill her, I don't know, but I do know you're NOT strong enough right now to stay away."

Carlisle sighed. "Well, I suppose that's a complication we didn't anticipate. But it settles the course, for now. We watch, and we wait. Edward? Rosalie? Jasper?"

Jasper nodded, he would not go against Alice in any way that would hurt her. I jerked my head in agreement and scowled in disgust. Trust Edward to get us all tangled up in this mess!

Edward himself leapt to his feet, running his hands through his usually perfect hair and leaving it mussed. His golden eyes were wide and desperate. "No," he said loudly. "I can't accept either of those eventualities! Bella…" his voice choked to a stop, and he turned and fled. We heard the slam of the back door- he was outside and running.

Alice smiled thoughtfully. "How very interesting it all is! I do hope Edward can control himself. I can't wait to be friends with Bella." She and Jasper walked from the room, leaving Emmett and I facing Carlisle and Esme across the table.

"Try and be gentle with Edward, Rosalie," Carlisle said softly. "If he really loves her, this will be a very difficult time for him."

I rolled my eyes in exasperation. "Oh, everything is difficult for Edward! He either thinks far too much or not enough!" The heat of my anger had dulled, but not gone, and for a moment I glared resentfully at Carlisle. "I never want to hear him talk about what I did back in Rochester. He knows nothing about that…he judges me for a situation he can't even comprehend! I know you judge me too, but I will never be sorry about that." I snapped my jaw shut to avoid saying too much, aching all over again with the burn of revenge. Those men who had taken my human life had treated me as something less than an animal and so, like animals, I had hunted them down and slaughtered them all. I had not even sated my raging newborn thirst with their blood, for I wanted no part of them inside me ever again. Never once had I regretted my actions.

"We don't judge you for that Rose," Esme said quietly. I glanced over at her sympathetic face and felt slightly comforted, because oddly enough it was gentle Esme who never had censured me for it. Perhaps because she had seen me when Carlisle brought me home, seen me broken and bleeding and near to death with her own eyes. Perhaps because she too had once suffered at the hands of a brutal man. Whatever the reason I was grateful, because I also knew that I had been a disappointment to Esme. Never quite the daughter she had hoped I could become- too prickly and angry and resentful of this vampire life I'd had no choice in to let her be my mother the way she longed for.

Tired of all the talk and conflict and unpleasant memories I shoved my chair back and stood up, noting for the first time the long crack I'd split in the polished wood of the table when I had slapped it early. "I'm sorry about the table," I said stiffly, but didn't wait for a response before I moved towards the door. Emmett made to follow me, but I shook my head. I needed to be alone.

* * *

Chapter 9- Memories of the past.

The garage was, once again, my refuge. I stripped off the clothes I'd worn to school and slipped into my old overalls, finding comfort in the worn softness of them and the smells of grease and oil that had become embedded into the fabric. I squirmed under Emmett's jeep and lay on my back, staring up at the underside of the car. There was no work to be done, we hadn't even driven it since I'd tuned everything up last, but hiding underneath a car was one of my favourite places to be.

So we were to wait. Wait and watch, and hope that Edward's reckless actions had no serious repercussions. I wondered bleakly what Bella Swan had actually seen, and what she thought of it. We were not the vampires of horror movies, it was not usually the conclusion that anyone came to if they bothered to try and explain away the freakiness of the Cullen family, but any suspicions could be dangerous for us. I wondered too what she would think of my brother, the vampire, being in love with her. An impossible love that could end nowhere good, but love that had sprung into being nonetheless.

I braced my hands against the struts and lifted the car, checking the suspension even though I knew it was perfect, and then sighed. Edward in love with Bella Swan. Alice too, loving Bella Swan.

I let the jeep down gently and rubbed my head. Whatever else my flaws were (and despite what Edward thought I was well aware of them!) self-deception was not one of them. I was always honest with myself and now, even though humiliation burned through me at being so petty, I had to face the fact that I was jealous of Bella Swan.

This plain, insignificant human girl had come into my family and suddenly everything was all about her. Alice, my only sister and the closest thing I had to a girl friend, already had a look in her eye when she spoke of Bella Swan that she didn't have when she spoke of me. Alice and I got along reasonably well, we shared some interests and could spend time together pleasantly and enjoyably enough, but we were friends of circumstance and I knew how the bitchiness I was still unable to control annoyed her.

And Edward. I had never wanted Edward for myself, but it had always rankled that he did not want me. He had been the first person I'd encountered in my entire life who was completely indifferent to my beauty, and part of me had always resented him for that rejection.

Now there was Bella Swan. Plain, ordinary Bella, a human being who should have been of no consequence, but had instead come into my life and driven a deep rift into my family.

I knew enough of human nature to know that most people would love to be beautiful. They think it makes everything easier and better, and they would be happier and more successful if they were. I had been beautiful all my life, and I did admit that it made many things easier, but it was not a gift without consequence. My whole life had been shaped by this exquisite face and beautiful blond waterfall of hair and perfect body, and so many of those events were things I wished with my whole heart I could undo.

I had been an only child, born to parents who were not particularly interested in me. Interested more so in money and social position, and in their pretty daughter they had seen an asset to their ambitions. My mother liked having a charming and accomplished daughter to show off to her friends, and my father saw me as little more than an investment. As I grew to womanhood and the childish loveliness deepened to real beauty I became an investment that my father was more than keen to collect on.

I didn't mind, not really. I wanted marriage, I wanted babies…I wanted an end to the loneliness that had followed me through life. If this came about because my father arranged something with someone richer and of a higher social standing than us, then I did not particularly object. If my exquisite body and beautiful face was the commodity being traded to obtain the husband and babies I longed for, then that was the way it was going to be. And really, given the time and the place, what choice did I have?

Father introduced me to Royce King at a ball. He was doing business with Royce's father and saw in the wealthy and establishing banking family a suitable future for his lovely Rosalie. I went along with his plans. Royce was handsome and debonair and talked about by the girls and their mamas as being an enviable catch, and having him favour me above all the other girls turned my head. I was flattered, ripe and ready to fall in love, and oh, so stupidly naïve!

There were signs of his true nature. Small things, easy to overlook. He sometimes drank a little too much, and occasionally I caught him assessing me with a look so cold and calculating it chilled me. Once at a party I danced too often with another man and Royce led me out of ballroom with a grip so tight it brought me to tears and left dark bruises on skin the following day. But I shut my eyes to it all, and smiled and flirted with him and revelled in the wedding planning that quickly followed, and adored the shining diamond on my finger. Once we were married it would all be fine, I thought. I would be an asset to his business and home, just as my parents had raised me to be, and one day I would have a little baby of my own. That dream of a rosy cheeked infant held close to my heart mattered more than anything, back then.

It was never to be. That dream was shattered soon after, when I was hurrying home at night, knowing I shouldn't be out that late and scolding myself for staying too long with a friend and her small baby. My first thought when I saw Royce and several of his friends laughing on the corner was one of relief, because I thought he could accompany me home. Instead he took my arm and kissed me with a mouth that tasted like whisky, and then pulled me into an alley, his friends making lewd suggestions and catcalls behind us. "Rosalie," he slurred as his hands went everywhere and I began to struggle, "Beautiful, beautiful Rosalie…"

I had had only the vaguest idea of what happened between a man and a woman, and I was horrified by what Royce did to me next. All those places that no one had ever touched were suddenly exposed and brutalised, and I screamed as the men watching my shame only laughed. I thought it could get no worse as Royce finished and staggered to his feet, laughing too as he buttoned his trousers, but then he gave me over to his friends to take their turn and when I struggled and screamed and tried to fight they beat me and hurt me until there was nothing but pain, and darkness, and endless mocking laughter.

So I never made it to my wedding. Carlisle found me that night, left alone in that filthy alley way to die, and took me home. The only time I ever wore that beautiful beaded lace gown that I had helped make with such hopes, was the night, weeks and weeks later, when I found Royce and made him look at me in my newborn vampire fearsomeness to see what I had become. I forced him to look me in my iridescent red eyes, see me more beautiful than ever with the mantle of power and immortality I wore now, and this time I was the one who laughed as he nearly choked on his own terror, before I killed him with cold, savage efficiency.

I had always believed even Carlisle, who picked me up and carried me home and both killed and saved me, did so because of my perfect face. In all his years as a doctor he had watched countless people die and let them go into the afterlife, and after all that he chose to save _me._ Because I was pretty. Because he wanted me for Edward, and Edward loved beautiful things and I was beautiful. For once though, Carlisle made a mistake, because Edward did not love me and I did not want this new life that had been given to me.

* * *

Chapter 10- Saving Emmett

There were footsteps into the garage, and I saw a pair of bare feet stop beside the jeep. Emmett.

"You want me to go away Babe?"

I didn't come out from under the jeep, but I did answer him. "No."

"You okay?"

The words came out in a half sob. "Not really."

"Come on out baby doll." I couldn't bring myself to move, and a moment later Emmett lifted the side of the jeep, holding it easily in the air with one hand and reaching out for me with the other. "Come on Rosa girl, come out and let me make it better."

I scooted across the floor and stood up beside him. He dropped the Jeep with a thump ( _god, the suspension Emmett!)_ and wrapped his strong arms around me, nestling my head on his broad shoulder and nuzzling my hair, murmuring gentle words of love.

"It'll be okay," he said finally, leaning back against the Jeep so he could look at me. "Edward's a basket case over this girl, but he's not stupid. Alice says it's going to work out, and she seems pretty sure of that right now so that's good. And if it all goes to hell…well, Jasper sees it the way you do and you know I've got your back no matter what."

I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair. "God, you're good to me Emmett. Even if I am…what did Edward call it? A 'proficient assassin'?"

"Aww baby doll, don't listen to his shit! He only wishes he could be as badass as you." I couldn't help laughing at Emmett's tone of admiration and, encouraged, he ducked his head and kissed my nose. "Don't forget, you're the only one of us besides Carlisle who hasn't ever slipped up and taken out a human."

I shrugged, because what Emmett had said was true. While I had killed and made other mistakes, plenty of them, in my efforts to blend into the human world around us – most often involving enraged and spectacular destruction of property, I was ashamed to admit- I had never killed a human for their blood. My mastery of the thirst came not from a sense of compassion as Carlisle's did, but rather a cold and furious rage at what I was and a burning desire to control everything I could and never seem less than perfect. In fact, the only human blood I had ever tasted had been Emmett's, and it had not been my teeth that had caused it to run.

"Yes, and now Edward's _in love_ with a human," I responded. "And really Emmett, what possible good can come of that?"

"Oh, I don't know." Emmett traced a finger over my lips and cupped the back of my head gently with his other huge hand. "It worked out pretty well the last time a vampire fell in love with me, Rosa girl."

I smiled at him lovingly, letting the residual anger and rage fade away. Indeed, falling in love with Emmett had been the best and most right thing I'd ever done in my short and sorry life.

I had been out in the forest, hunting alone. The physical prowess of being a vampire was one of the few things that gave me pleasure at that point. I was enchanted with my own strength and grace and knowing that no one and nothing could hurt me gave me a fierce sense of satisfaction. Even as drinking blood still disgusted me on a rational level, despite my body's craving for it, I loved the thrill of hunting.

I had already brought down a deer and was just burying the carcass when the wind shifted and I first smelled it on the breeze. The heavy, musky scent of a bear, and something else…the venom began to flow in my mouth as my instincts recognised it before my mind thought the words. _Human blood. Fresh and flowing._

I was on my feet and flying swiftly through the forest in an instant. They were not far, and I heard the angry snarling and growls of the bear and the hoarse, agonised screams of the man before I saw them. At the edge of a small clearing by a stream I stopped, assessing the situation before me.

The bear was large and irritated, and as I watched she dropped from her hind legs down to four paws, and took another swipe at the man lying crumpled on the ground before her. Below the animal's menacing growls I heard the man moan as he tried, unsuccessfully, to roll and avoid the lethal claws that raked at his skin.

I leapt towards the bear and snapped her neck effortlessly. I tossed the furry body to the side but spared it not a glance, all my attention focussed on the man that lay at my feet. The animal had torn him open from the shoulder to the abdomen and the tattered remains of his shirt were soaked red with blood. _Oh my god, all that blood..._ I breathed in and the heady scent of it nearly set the world spinning as the monster of my blood lust burned.

I crouched beside him, breathing deeply. I had never done this, but I wanted that blood that was flowing slickly across the man's brown skin more than I had wanted anything, ever. I had made promises, to Carlisle and Esme and Edward, but I could tell by the slowing heartbeat that this man was dying. There was no preservation of life possible here.

Slowly, almost hesitantly, I leaned across his body until my lips were inches from one of jagged slices on his neck. Afterwards I never knew what had come over me but instead of plunging my teeth into the inviting curve of his neck and shoulder and draining him dry, I had opened my mouth and licked him.

The taste of it! My eyes flew open with shock as the delicious flavours of hot, fresh blood exploded on my tongue, and my body trembled with the sheer pleasure of it. So this was what I had been missing! I licked my lip and then, about to fasten my mouth onto this shattered body and take what I wanted with such intensity, I looked for one instant at the face of the man whose life I was about to bring to an end and everything, _everything_ , changed.

He was beautiful. Even with his tanned skin blanching to white as the life leached out of him, even with his dark curly hair caked with blood and dirt, he was beautiful. I stared at his vulnerable, full lipped mouth and then looked into the blue eyes surrounded by sooty dark lashes that met mine, not with the horror and revulsion I expected, but with a look of blissful wonderment. He could barely speak, but he moved his lips and bending even closer I heard him whisper one word. " _Angel…"_

I sat back on my heels, looking around wildly. I could not kill this man. The burn of the thirst was entirely subsumed by my certainty that nothing mattered more than his survival. _Mine, mine, mine._ But he was so broken…I tore off my shirt and tied it around the worst of his injuries, anything to hold him together long enough for me to carry him home to the one person I knew who might be able to heal him.

Despite his horrific injuries he was still alive, barely, when I came crashing through the door of home, his limp form cradled tenderly in my arms. Edward had of course heard me coming, my almost incoherent mental shrieks alerting them to the situation, and Carlisle was ready and waiting for me as I placed the unconscious man on the kitchen table before him.

He worked quickly, looking him over with skilled professionalism, but it was his vampire senses and not his years of medical training that heard the slowing, erratic beat of the human's heart and knew that there was no medicine on earth to heal this damage.

Carlisle rocked helplessly back on his heels. "Rosalie, there's nothing I can do."

" _Fix him!"_ I screamed, almost beside myself. "He _can't_ die! Just _heal him!"_

Esme and Edward were against the wall, as far from the blood as they could get while still being able to see what was going. Esme was wringing her hands in distress and Edward was frowning in concentration.

"There are no real thoughts," he said quietly. "Just images…Rosalie, he's going."

Carlisle reached out a hand towards me. "I'm sorry Rosalie, but these injuries are so severe…I don't have the ability to fix this."

"NO!" I crawled up on to the table and gently lifted the man's head and shoulders in to my arms, cradling him protectively close. I did not understand any of this, and I did not care either. All I knew was that I needed this man, and I was determined to have him. I glared at Carlisle. "If you can't heal him, then _change him! I want him! Make him one of us… CHANGE HIM!"_

The words fell like grenades into the quiet room, shocking us all into silence. Edward and Esme froze, and for the first time ever I saw Carlisle stumble. I knew he felt a constant and endless guilt over the change he had wrought in me, a change that I had not wanted and had resented fiercely. But here I was, and this was my life now and I would have this nameless man in it no matter what it took. So I used the feeling of guilt and responsibility towards me that Carlisle was tormented by and I wielded it as a weapon to get what I wanted.

"You did this to me," I hissed. "You made me what I am and I hate you for it! You took _everything_ I cared about from me, and now _you owe me Carlisle._ And I'm going to collect, right here, tonight, because _I want this man. He's mine! You give him to me, NOW, or I will never, ever forgive you. CHANGE HIM!"_ My voice rose to a scream, and with a desperate glance at Esme Carlisle groaned and bent over the body on the table. For better or worse, he would do what I had demanded.

I stayed with Emmett through the three days of the change. When he thrashed and screamed in wordless agony I let him cling to me, and when he moaned and sobbed and begged to die I held him close and murmured nonsense words of comfort. As he shook through the burning and shuddered through mortal death I was there to soothe as best I could, knowing that there was no real help for him now. It was only when he finally lay still, as cold and immobile as stone in his new vampire form that I finally left him.

Carlisle and Edward guided him through his first vampire weeks. More than any of the rest of us Emmett took to vampire life with a kind of astonished acceptance that soon became enthusiasm. He loved the strength and speed, he was a natural hunter and had an innate good humour and zest for living. He had had no family to leave behind and gladly embraced Carlisle and Esme and Edward as his new parental figures and brother. He and Edward spent a great deal of time together and effortlessly fell into an easy friendship. For the first time in a long time I heard my brother Edward laugh, and watched him lose his serious demeanour in playful games.

Behind it all, there was me.

I was painfully, exquisitely aware of Emmett at every moment. I didn't know what to make of the powerful new emotions that flooded me every time I looked at him. I didn't know what to say to him, so I rarely talked to him at all. I knew he watched me. I knew he made excuses to be near me. But the dying man and emergent vampire I had held so passionately and loved with such wild abandon had become a beautiful vampire man who stumbled over his words and called me 'Miss Rosalie', and my own insecurities and fears rose up between us like a wall that I could not breach.

It was Edward, in the end, who helped us find each other and for that I would always owe him. He helped us break the silence and once the conversation between Emmett and I began it flowed faster and faster, until we were utterly absorbed in each other. It was Edward then, too, who played the piano for us and encouraged Emmett to ask me to dance, so that finally we touched each other. Dancing, held close and secure in his safe, strong arms, hearing Esme and Carlisle laugh as they danced with us, reliving the beginning of their own romance as they watched the feelings between Emmett and I grow, I felt truly happy.

* * *

Chapter 11- Saving Me.

Emmett told me he loved me. He told me I was perfect, and all he had ever wanted in his life. He told me I was beautiful.

I turned and ran.

This was just what I had wanted, and yet here I was, running. Emmett was whole and alive and mine, but the old self loathing rose up and I could not let myself believe it. How could this beautiful, honest and open man love _me_? If he knew what I was, what I had been and what had been done to me to turn me into the woman I was, surely he would turn away in disgust. Underneath the arrogance I wore like I cloak I could never escape my bone deep conviction that that what had been done to me was my own fault. It had happened because I deserved no better.

Emmett found me sitting in the garage, my arms wrapped around my legs and my chin resting on my knees, my hair falling forward to cover my face.

"May I sit down?" he asked quietly.

I nodded, and he carefully slid down the wall to sit beside me, stretching his long legs out ahead of him. He was close enough to touch me, but he sat still with his hands clasped in his lap. "I'm sorry for upsetting you," he said at last. "I meant no offence."

"I'm sorry too," I said with effort. "You didn't…do anything wrong." I brushed my hair away from my face so I could look at him. "But I have to tell you Emmett, I'm not the girl you think I am. I'm sorry, so sorry for all of this, but I can't be what you want."

"But you are what I want," Emmett said simply.

"No." I shook my head. "You don't know me Emmett, not really."

"So tell me."

I did. In brutal, graphic detail and with a voice that didn't falter I told him of how my human life had been ended and how I had taken my revenge on those who had hurt me. I told him every dark, shameful and ugly thought in my head, all the things I would never admit to Carlisle or Esme and that I took such pains to hide from Edward's intrusion, and waited dully for Emmett to shy away in disgust. But through my tales he gazed at me steadily, and when my voice finally trailed to a stop he gently traced a hand down my cheek.

"None of that matters." He stroked my hair and, like a cat, I leaned into his touch. "I still remember seeing you in the woods, like an angel come down from heaven to save my life…we were meant to be together, Rosalie. I don't want anything else but you now." He continued to look me in the eye, his eyes a dark burnt amber as they transitioned from the vivid red of a newborn to the gold of a drinker of animal blood. "I'm sorry all that happened to you. Men like that are scum, you gave them what they deserved and I'm proud of you."

He stopped, and I could see he was debating what to say next. Then his free hand caught mine and raised it to his mouth, kissing my knuckles. "I hope you know that it isn't always like that when a man lies with a woman," he went on slowly. "It should _never_ be like that…there can be a great deal of pleasure in that physical love and maybe…well, maybe one day you might find that you trust me enough to let me show you. I love you Rosalie."

Sliding over, I rose to my knees and put my hands on his shoulders. I looked in to his eyes and then inclined my head forward until I could kiss him. Soft, butterfly kisses that grew deep and languorous, and then hard and hot as I opened my mouth to him and learned what could be done with lips and tongue and teeth. Emmett's hands were never still, roaming over my face and arms and stroking my back and twining themselves in my hair, but he took no liberties until I pulled back for a moment to look at him.

"I want you," he said, his voice thick with desire. "I want to touch you, touch you everywhere and give you what you've never had…but I want you to want it too, Rosa girl. I won't do anything to hurt you, only do what you want to and when you say yes."

I nodded mutely. Emmett, with his big gentle hands and soft, full lipped kisses had woken something in me that I didn't even know was sleeping there. For the first time in my vampire life I felt _heat_ , and the unfamiliar swirl and pulse of desire deep in my belly and throbbing between my legs. I nodded again, and reached behind me to unbutton my dress and slide it off my shoulders, holding it high enough to cover my breasts.

Emmett swallowed, hard, and reached out his hands. "May I?" he asked, but it wasn't until I found my voice and whispered the word _"Yes"_ that he took hold of the fabric and drew it away from my body, then touching again to remove my underwear. I knew he was looking at me as I knelt beside him, bare and exposed, and I shut my eyes tight and fought against the rising tide of fear.

"Open your eyes, my angel," he commanded quietly, and wordlessly I did as he said. He had taken his own shirt off, but left his trousers on, and was kneeling before me, smiling as he held my chin and tipped my gaze up to meet his. "Don't hide, pretty girl…there is no shame in this Rosalie. No shame now, not here with me." His eyes swept over my body once again, and he looked back at my face with the same look of beatific wonderment I remembered from the human in the forest. "Look at you! So beautiful! God made you so perfectly to give and receive pleasure, and there is nothing in the world wrong with that, Rosa girl."

He cupped my breasts in his palms, thumbs tracing lazy circles around the nipples. All fear gone I whimpered at his touch and leaned forward to kiss him again, and with laugh that tickled against my face he laid me down on the garage floor and taught me, in exquisite detail, the depth of pleasure possible when two people gave themselves to each other as equals.

From that beginning, Emmett's steadfast and joyous love for me never wavered. Over the decades he loved me, in poodle skirts and bobby socks, in tie dye and braids, bell bottoms and beads, overalls and neon and mini skirts and even high waisted jeans. And I loved him back, with a strength and passion I would not have thought myself capable of, before him. He was good for me. With his endless sunny nature and enthusiasm for life he accepted things without the agonised questioning of Edward or the unhappy tangle of resentments that I struggled with. He melded the human and the vampire sides of life together with more ease than any of the rest of us, adopting new fashions and speech patterns and habits with alacrity, and making everything easier and better with his laughter and cheerfulness and love.

 _Love you, want you, need you._ I said it to him every day, and he said it back. _You and me, Rosa girl. Always._ As Bella Swan threatened to destroy the family life we held so dear I found myself holding even tighter to him as we began to wait, and watch.

* * *

Chapter 12 – Talking changes.

For a time Edward fought, and fought hard, against the futures of Alice's visions. Despite the pain it clearly caused him he stayed away from Bella Swan and when I remembered the way I had felt about human Emmett, wanting him beyond all sense of reason, even I had to admit to a grudging respect for Edward's efforts.

At first we were all tense as we watched, and waited for we didn't know what. But when days, and then weeks, passed and nothing untoward happened life slipped back into its regular routine. We listened to the usual gossip and stories whispered about our family and ignored it all, because none of it had changed and it appeared that whatever tales Bella Swan could have shared about the Cullen freaks she had chosen not to.

We wondered of course, what was going on in Bella Swan's mind. Had she decided that the incident in the parking lot could not possibly have happened as she remembered it and dismissed it completely, attributing her faulty memories to shock? Was she still harbouring suspicions and doing her own watching and waiting, hoping to see something out of the ordinary to confirm what she thought she knew? With Edward's inability to read this human's mind (this one, out of all humans!) we had no way to know, and in response we all increased our vigilance and efforts to behave circumspectly.

It did not take long though, for the cracks to begin to show in Edward's control. He stopped playing the piano and instead spent hours a day alone, running through the forest. Not hunting, just running as if in an effort to get away from his own inner torment. He was constantly in such a foul mood that even Emmett, who was rarely bothered by anything, did not want to be around him more than necessary.

"Geez, is this ever going to end?" Emmett grumbled, coming in to our room where Alice and I were sorting through my wardrobe.

"Will what end?" I asked absently, frowning at a shirt I had no recollection of buying and had no intention of ever wearing. I tossed it on to the charity pile.

"Things are changing," Alice said seriously. "It's not clear because he's fighting so hard, but I really do believe Edward is coming to a crossroads with this and things will be decided one way or another quite soon."

"Oh, _Edward_ ," I said, in disgruntled tones. "Do we really care anymore?" I stepped out of my jeans and shirt and slipped into a wrap dress I'd found in the closet, lingering for a moment in my underwear in between knowing Emmett was watching. "What do you think, Alice?" I twisted to look at the rear view in the mirror. "Too much skin?"

"Like there's any such thing as too much skin!" Emmett mocked cheerfully, throwing himself down on the bed. "You've got the goods baby doll, so you may as well flaunt them."

Alice looked at me doubtfully. "Well, _you_ could walk around in only a thong and make it look like high fashion, but we are in _Forks_ , after all. I'd say no to that dress."

I untied the dress and flipped it over to the charity pile, then taking the next outfit Alice handed me and sliding it on. I liked clothes, because I liked looking good and I liked people to look at me and think of me as beautiful, but I did not have quite the sense of style that Alice did. She loved fashion for its own sake and loved dressing people up. Using me as her own personal clothes horse gave her great satisfaction and I'd long ago given her a great deal of control over my wardrobe.

"What has Edward done now?"

Emmett groaned. "He's like a fucking bear with a sore head, and you all know how I feel about those! Damn it, I even offered to let him cheat his way to winning a game of chess if it would make him feel better. I wish he'd just eat her or kill her or change her…whatever the hell it would take to get us all out of this misery."

Alice knotted a silk scarf around her neck and admired herself. "This is nice…thanks Rose." Anticipating my answer to her unasked question about keeping it, she left it on and slid several more hangers along the racks, pulling out several dresses and tossing them disdainfully on the charity pile. "So last season Rosalie! Have I taught you nothing?"

I couldn't help giggling. This afternoon of girlish levity as my sister and I played dress up had been a welcome relief from the intensity of feelings in the house of late.

"And _you_!" Alice swung round and shook her finger sternly at Emmett. "Stop tearing off her clothes! You don't understand the sartorial _vision_ I have for Rosalie and how I'm building her wardrobe, and you're ruining it with your ham fisted ways! The two of you have eternity to be together, it wouldn't hurt you to take ten seconds to undo a button instead of just ripping it off!"

"Yes ma'am," Emmett saluted. "I'll do my best to keep your vision in mind, but sometimes a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do."

"Tell that to Edward," Alice sighed, buttoning herself into one of the several wedding dresses hung in the far corner of the closet. "I really think he just needs to give in and change her. He can't go on as he is! And Bella is supposed to be my friend…I know I don't even really know her yet, but I _miss_ her." She swished in front of the full length mirror, holding up the full skirt of the gown. "Oh, why aren't I tall enough to wear your clothes Rosalie? I adore this dress, I really do. It would be enough to make me want to have another wedding if it only fit me."

"You can't want him to change her," I said sharply, ignoring her comment about the dress. "If she's going to be your friend, as you say…you surely don't want _this_ for her!"

"It's not about whether I want it or not," Alice hedged. "It's about what's going to happen."

"And if it's going to happen anyway, it may as well be sooner as later," Emmett contributed, whistling appreciatively as I zipped myself into a black leather mini dress. Alice gave me an appalled look and I obediently threw it on to the charity pile, only to have Emmett sweep up the offending item and return it to the closet with a lewd wink in my direction.

I was in no mood now to be pacified. "You're serious about this?" I demanded. "He would change her and you would all just _go along with it?_ Condemn her to _this?"_ Agitated, I began returning clothes to the closet. Sensing our dress up afternoon was over Alice sadly slid off the wedding gown and hung it back on its padded hanger.

"I don't know!" Alice threw up her hands in frustration. " _Yes._ I probably _would_ rather see her changed than have to watch Edward live with himself if he kills her!"

"She would be better off dead," I said flatly, staring out the window at the deepening twilight. "Better off dead than living the never changing half life of the undead! It seems like none of you can see past Edward's goddamn sulking, but maybe you should give a thought to your precious Bella and what being changed would mean to her before you go encouraging it!"

I stormed from the room and flung myself into Carlisle's study. I had thought he was at the hospital and my intention in going in there was simply to find a place to hide, but much to my surprise he and Esme were sitting side by side on the window seat. Had I been paying the slightest bit of attention I would have known they were in there and never even opened the door, but as it was I almost stumbled to a stop in surprise.

"I'm sorry," I said stiffly. "I didn't realise you were here. I'll just…I'll go."

Esme patted the cushion beside her. "Come and sit down Rosalie. Stay."

I did as she asked in her gentle, coaxing voice, and sat on the windowsill staring at my hands. "I suppose you heard all that," I said at last.

Carlisle nodded. "It was a little hard to miss."

"Is that why you have been so angry with Edward?" Esme pressed kindly. "Because you've been thinking of Bella?"

"No," I said bluntly, honesty winning out over the desire to have my foster mother think well of me. "Not really. I'm angry at him because I'm selfish and he's putting me and everything I love in danger with this recklessness. If Edward ends up killing that girl, I won't particularly care. But _changing_ her?" I bit my lip. "That would be wrong. I want no part of that."

"Are you really so unhappy with your life as it is now, Rosalie?" Esme's voice was wistful.

Suddenly weary from all the turmoil and battles I'd been fighting I leaned back against the window and stared at the ceiling. "No, I'm not unhappy with my life." I looked at Carlisle and Esme, at their compassionate and loving faces, and felt ashamed of how much irritation and frustration I was constantly causing them with my difficult nature. I was sorry, once again, for not being the daughter they deserved.

"I'm not unhappy with my life," I repeated. "I am what I am, and I'm learning to accept that. I know I'm horrible and make it hard for everyone, but I _do_ try and I think I'm getting better all the time. I have Emmett and you know that he is the whole world for me. I have the family, and we've all built a good life here. I think about those things and I try to be content. But I can't lie either. _I would do anything, give up anything, if I could take back my human life._ To be able to grow older, go out in the sunshine, have a baby of my own…to just be able to change naturally!" I took a deep breath. "Bella Swan has all of that, and I think it would be wrong to take it away from her. Not while she has any other option. We didn't have a choice Carlisle, not any of us really, but there is a choice for Bella Swan and I think we should all think very hard about that before this thing with Edward goes any further."

* * *

Chapter 13 – Girls and Cars.

"Can we just go, please?" I hissed. "Stop making a spectacle of yourself Edward, if that's even possible for you!"

We were in the parking lot at the end of the school day, Edward at the wheel of the Volvo and holding up a line of student cars behind him as he laughed at nothing. Directly behind us was the behemoth truck belonging to Bella Swan, and as I kicked irritably at the back of Edward's seat I saw her scowling in his direction and leaning on her horn. I guessed that whatever Edward was so amused about had something to do with her.

"Cool it babe," Emmett put a hand on my knee, and grinned at me. "Not worth it…poor bastard's lost his mind."

Edward only chuckled, as I rolled my eyes. I listened to the angry revs of Bella's truck as she drove off behind us, taking the opposite direction. Whoever had rebuilt the engine had done a good job, although not as good as I could have done. The thing was ancient, I wondered how much of it was still original parts and I wished I could get my hands on it and take a look.

"You want to fix her truck?" Edward stopped laughing and looked at me in the rear view mirror in surprise.

"Hardly!" I snorted. "But I _could_ get it running better than it is now," I couldn't resist adding.

"Speaking of getting things running…" Edward murmured. He raised his eyebrows at Emmett. "You didn't get one!"

Emmett grinned. "Did indeed. You should…" he stopped talking, no doubt finishing his sentence in his head so that only Edward could hear.

I felt the familiar irritation at being kept out of things as Edward took the turn off towards home and gunned the accelerator so we were flying, and Alice clapped her hands together. "Oh, how fun!"

I looked at Jasper, the only other one who didn't seem to know what was going on, and he shrugged at me, but before I could get into it we reached home and pulled up in front of the garage. In front of it instead of inside it, because there was something blocking the entry.

"Oh, is that…" Jasper sounded impressed and leaned forward to get a better look at the rusted, banged up, tire-less vehicle parked on the gravel.

"Yeah." Emmett, his face glowing with satisfaction looked lovingly at me. "1937 BMW 328 Mille Miglia… and it's all yours, baby doll."

"Mine!" I shrieked, catapulting myself out of the car with such reckless abandon I nearly tore the door off the Volvo in my haste to examine my new prize. "Oh my god, Emmett! You found me one!"

"I've had a few guys looking for years," Emmett said to the others. "They're fucking hard to come by! Don't know how you'll go with parts for it by the way, babe, but I guess you can figure that out. Found this one in France and had it shipped over, although I can't believe it got here without either of you picking up on it!" he added to Alice and Edward, laughing at the success of his surprise. "Guess all your distraction has been good for something! I wanted to surprise Rose with it so I got Carlisle to accept the delivery today. Good timing really, it'll give her something new to play with and make her happy."

"Good luck with that," Edward murmured, but his heart wasn't in the jab and I ignored him, too enraptured with my new toy to be bothered. Edward came to stand beside me and run his hand over the hood, and with a flash of the camaraderie that our mutual love of cars brought out in us, smiled at me with genuine enthusiasm. "This is going to be magnificent when you're done with it!"

"Oh I know! Beautiful, beautiful thing," I crooned, ducking my head to look underneath. "Gorgeous beast…"

"Is that me or the car?" Emmett joked, his smile a mile wide. I knew how happy he was to see my sheer joy at his gift.

"Both!" Heedless, I threw myself at him and he caught me, swinging me up into the air and then holding me as I wrapped my legs and arms around him and kissed him madly all over his face, laughing in delight. "I love it! I love you! It's the best gift ever."

I jumped free of his arms and went back to the car, inspecting every detail. "Edward, look at this…" He and I pored over the engine, picking at it carefully and talking eagerly, Emmett and Jasper circling around us. Alice frowned into the future, and then smiled at me.

"I see now…looks like not much more than some rusty old antique to me, but you're going to do a beautiful job with it."

My face glowed with happiness as I looked at my beautiful (well, _going to be_ beautiful) new car and my adopted siblings. _This_ is what I was fighting to save from the threat posed by Bella Swan and Edward's infatuation with her. This family, this ordinariness…this is what mattered to me. This is what I had to protect, no matter what the cost.

* * *

Chapter 13

School, school, boring school. I twirled my pencil around my hand and listened to Jasper arguing with the history teacher, his usually light southern accent deepening with every word. Behind me I could hear the class moving restlessly, tapping pens, scrunching paper, shifting in their seats and scuffing feet, as bored with the topic and the endless back and forth of Jasper and Mr Cartwright as I was. Eventually even the teacher lost patience and said sarcastically, "Well unless you'd like to get up here and teach the class yourself Jasper, perhaps you'd seat yourself quietly and let me continue?"

I dug my fingers into Jasper's thigh. "Just stay here and shut up," I hissed, too fast and low for any of the humans nearby to hear. "Stop annoying him and everyone else! We know you're always right, although I do have to point out that your side _lost_ , you know!"

Jasper grinned at me wryly and nodded at the teacher, sitting carefully back in his chair. I actually didn't know how annoyed Mr Cartwright was. He was a complete fool for this subject, and although I think he was initially offended by Jasper's assured disagreements and contradictions I was beginning to think he was coming to enjoy the challenge of arguing with him.

I noticed Jasper's eyes were very dark, and his breathing was verging on pained. _Eat tonight?_ I wrote in my notebook, pushing it in his direction. _Emmett and Edward are going hiking down Goat Rocks this weekend, but you and I could go out closer to home._ His eyes flicked towards my note and he nodded almost imperceptibly.

Good. So much attention had been focussed lately on Edward and the torment of Bella Swan's scent for him. I hoped that we were not missing anything going on with Jasper's struggle to abstain. As the bell rang and students brushed past us, sending out waves of heat and scent, I couldn't help but notice Jasper's stillness and the slight predatory turn of his head to follow that enticing smell. Hunting tonight would be a very good idea.

Alice was waiting outside the door for us, smiling brightly. "It will be a nice night for it," she said cheerfully, giving me a look of understanding. "I won't come, I have an English paper due tomorrow, but you'll have a good time." She linked her arms in Jasper's and led us to the cafeteria. "Edward won't be sitting with us today," she added casually, as Jasper held the door for us and we entered.

My eyes flicked to our usual table, standing empty now, to where Edward sat alone. _Idiot,_ I thought crossly, crossing the cafeteria line and paying for a salad. He smirked at me, and then his attention was caught by someone entering the room. Bella Swan. Of course.

The rest of us gathered at our usual table, to play with our food and attempt to look human while we eavesdropped shamelessly on Edward's conversation with this human girl. He'd sat at the far side of the cafeteria to us…as if it made any difference.

Emmett chuckled darkly as he listened to Edward's cryptic comments and answers. "That poor girl doesn't know whether she's coming or going with him."

"Good." I rolled an apple across my fingers, twirling it effortlessly from side to side. "Let's try and keep it that way."

"Very human there, Rose," Jasper said, eyeing my apple. I let it fall to the table and caught it as it rolled off the edge.

" _I'm trying to figure out what you are,"_ I heard Bella Swan's soft voice, and I glared at Edward.

"This should be interesting." Emmett stirred at the spaghetti on his plate with a look so revolted it was almost funny, if I'd been in the mood for amusement.

Alice stared into the distance, half listening to the conversation in the cafeteria and half focussing on visions of the future in her mind.

"Radioactive spiders," Jasper murmured. "Not bad."

Emmett snorted. "She thinks he's a superhero…kid doesn't even have hair on his chest."

I was about to respond to that, when I heard Edward's low voiced comment. " _What if I'm not a superhero? What if I'm the bad guy?"_

I shook my head furiously. "Is he just going to come right out and tell her? Is he insane?"

"He's not going to tell her." Alice jumped to her feet. "And they're blood typing in biology today, so he's not going to class with her either."

"Well, that's something at least." I rose to my feet and picked up my tray. "Come on Emmett, help me get through the next hour of gym." I was mostly serious. I was so angry with Edward I wanted to destroy something, and I hoped I could control myself during gym.

Gym was badminton, fortunately for me a non contact sport and thus easier for me to maintain the human image, although it was a sport Emmett detested.

"Fucking pussy sport," he muttered, as he and I stood on the court at the furthest end of the gym. He held out the racket to me with a look of complete disgust. "What is this shit? What kind of damage can you do with something like this? Even as a human I could break this with my fingertips." He scowled so ferociously around the gymnasium that no one dared to join us on our court and we ended up the odd pair out and had to play each other instead of playing pairs like everyone else. Emmett barely bothered to play at all and I spent more time inspecting the tail of my hair for imaginary split ends than doing anything else, so it was a long hour.

I could feel the coach's irritated eyes on us, but he didn't approach us. None of the teachers ever approached Emmett really, unless it was completely unavoidable. He was the tallest and biggest person in the school and, despite his cheerful grins and laid back attitude, humans always seemed to shrink away from his air of menace.

Gym finally finished and after changing Emmett loped off to his Spanish class, while I went to the library for an independent study period. Rather than studying I spent the hour trawling the internet sourcing needed parts for my car and even managing to find some. My good mood from this success lasted the approximate ten minutes between sealing the deal and opening the door of the Volvo to go home, where I was slapped in the face with a wave of human scent- Bella Swan. The sleeping monster of my thirst raised its head and howled, before I brutally cut it down. _NO._ I was not driven mad by this aroma as Edward was, but the appeal of it was very strong.

"You're playing taxi service now?" I said sarcastically. "Nice lunchtime conversation there, Edward."

"I drove her home," Edward said calmly. "She fainted in biology…at the sight of blood."

Emmett roared with laughter, and I gave an incredulous snort. "Tell me you are joking!"

Edward's lips twitched. I couldn't tell if he was trying not to laugh or restraining himself from growling at me. "No."

Jasper slid into the car beside me, his face tight as the scent of Bella Swan hit his senses. I could feel a slight tremble of bloodlust in the arm against mine, and I noticed Edward's silent snarl and the way he glowered at our brother. I leaned my shoulder hard into Jasper's, steadying him with my presence, and he gave me a quick look of acknowledgement.

Alice skipped to a stop outside the car and held her hand out to Edward, who dropped a set of keys into her palm. "I only saw that I was," she said obscurely. "You can tell me why later."

No one spoke while we trailed Alice, driving Bella's truck, over to the Swan house. It was only once she'd parked the vehicle in the drive and slipped daintily into the car beside Jasper and we'd taken off towards home that I spoke up.

"Interesting lunchtime conversation you had going today, Edward."

"Radioactive spiders…good one," Emmett spoke lightly, clearly trying to diffuse the tension, but I was focussed.

"So that's it then?" I said sharply. "You and Bella Swan? You're going to be friends, and let the whole world know?"

Edward spun the wheel and the car skidded spectacularly around a curve in the road. "Yes," he said calmly. "I believe that seems to be the way things are unfolding. Bella and I, for the present time at least…will be friends."

"And how will that end?" There was a long silence. Even Alice had nothing to offer, and eventually I shrugged and turned away from them all, staring at the blur of scenery racing past the window. "Well, on your head be it then, Edward."

"I know that Rosalie," he said quietly. "I know."

* * *

Chapter 15 – Knowledge.

I didn't see or hear about Bella Swan for nearly a week after that, and it was a very welcome reprieve. Edward and Emmett went hunting over the weekend, ranging far afield in search of some of the bears Emmett liked best. I missed Emmett but it was a relief to be in a house without the air laced with tension. I realised what it must be like for the rest of my family to have to endure the constant sparks of temper between Edward and myself, and although I knew it was a lost cause I made a mental promise to try harder to get along.

Jasper and I went hunting closer to home, contenting ourselves with the deer and elk that were in plentiful supply. Not as tasty as the carnivores Emmett and Edward were no doubt feasting on elsewhere, but an adequate diet. Jasper and I hunted well together and the two of us glutted ourselves, burying the carcasses when we done.

"Well, hopefully that will keep me going," Jasper commented, dropping a fallen trunk over the mound of earth covering the carcasses.

I seized a nearby spruce and pulled it up, laying it beside Jasper's tree. "It's not getting any easier?"

Jasper shrugged. "It's never going to be easy. I manage."

"Do you ever want to give up?" I asked, suddenly curious. The way we lived was so ingrained in us that we never even questioned it now, and this was not something Jasper and I had ever talked about.

Jasper opened his mouth to give a quick answer, and then hesitated. "There are times that the temptation is very great. If Alice were not here to give me strength I truly cannot say what would happen." He met my eyes squarely. "I'll not pretend to be something I'm not Rosalie. I made this choice for Alice though, and I always honour my promises." He dusted off his shirt and smiled. "And speaking of Alice, I'd like to get home to her. So, shall we race?"

He beat me, of course. They were all faster than me.

Emmett and Edward returned earlier than I had expected. Alice had seen sunny days ahead and we knew we wouldn't be in school, so I had assumed Emmett and Edward would have taken advantage of that to have a long hunting trip, but they arrived home in the early hours of Monday morning. Edward of course was still immaculate, whereas Emmett was covered in dried blood, fur and mud, with his clothes in tatters. He looked like he'd been living in the forest for a year and he smelled like an animal.

"You are such a savage," I told him, following him into the bathroom where he stripped off what remained of his clothes and stood under the icy blast of the shower.

Emmett's eyes twinkled at me. "That's what Edward says."

I handed him the shampoo. "Well, he's not _always_ completely wrong you know. Good hunting?"

"Very good." Emmett emptied half the bottle of shampoo into his curly hair and scrubbed. "I missed you though baby doll, you should have come."

"I went out hunting with Jasper." I sat on the laundry hamper and watched with enjoyment as Emmett soaped down the rest of body. God, he was something to look at!

"Probably better you weren't out with Edward anyway," Emmett said cheerfully. "I've never seen him so distracted, and it was all about that girl…kid's lost his damn mind over her. I'd give up fighting that battle babe, because it's over. He's gone." He rinsed the shampoo out of his hair and then eyed me speculatively. "And that's enough about our insane brother. All I've had to look at all weekend was Edward and a bunch of grizzlies, and none of them are as pretty as you, so how 'bout you take those clothes off and join me in this shower and I'll show you just how much I missed you, Rosa girl?"

Without a second thought, I dropped my dress and underwear and obliged.

The next few days were sunny, so going out in public was impossible. I spent most of the daylight hours in the garage, pulling apart the engine of my new BMW, since if there was one thing I never, ever, did it was look at myself in the sunlight. That beautiful, glittering vampire skin…I hated that visual reminder of the unnatural thing that I was.

Edward really did seem to have lost his mind over Bella Swan. He spent barely any time at home, preferring instead to haunt the shadows and the night and watch her with hopeless desire. The presence of two of Jasper's old friends who lived a more traditional vampire lifestyle only fuelled his paranoia. Edward became convinced that, despite their assurances that they had hunted in Seattle and had no desire to cause trouble in our area, Peter and Charlotte were bound to stumble across Bella's scent and devour her, and his only thought was to watch her and protect her from that.

The rest of the family enjoyed the brief visit of Jasper's friends, and simply shook our heads over Edward's erratic behaviour. It was madness, madness that was sending us hurtling into an unknown future laced with dangers, but something about which we could do nothing but watch, and wait to see where we landed.

Then came the night Edward followed Bella to Port Angeles.

I knew _something_ was going on. Alice and I had been clothes shopping online, an activity she usually loved but which today was not holding her attention. She was jumpy, frequently stopping while visions clouded her eyes, and after she'd twice ordered things in the wrong size or colour I gave up on her and went over to watch Jasper and Emmett play chess. It was their own intricate version involving multiple boards joined together and a complex set of rules and they were fiercely competitive over it.

Bored, I flipped on the television and channel surfed, looking for something I hadn't seen before. When the chess game finished Emmett dropped onto the couch beside me and lay with his head in my lap reading a book for English class. I stroked his hair and he smiled at me lazily. With no Edward nearby to read my mind and make me feel foolish I fell into one of my favourite daydreams- of Emmett and I being human. _It's late, and we'd be feeling sleepy. Once he finished his book we'd go upstairs together and get ready for bed, and then maybe we'd make love or maybe we wouldn't, but we would lie together in bed, holding each other close for warmth. And we'd_ sleep _,_ _and in the morning I'd open my eyes and smile because he was there, sleeping beside me…_

The front door banged, and an instant later Edward stood in the doorway. "Carlisle! Esme!" He didn't raise his voice, but the tone of it caught everyone's attention although he said no more until everyone was there, waiting.

"She knows." His voice was a potent mix of exultation and terror. "Bella knows…everything."

* * *

Chapter 16- Dangerous Games.

I dressed for school in a black rage. My shortest mini skirt, that barely covered my ass as it brushed the top of the thigh high stockings, and spike heeled boots. As I stormed into the kitchen Carlisle and Esme, reading the paper together at the table, looked at my outfit and exchanged glances, but said nothing. Emmett tossed his books into his bag and shook his head at me. "Baby doll, I'm not saying you don't look hot… _because, holy fuck, you do!_...but you're not really gonna wear that to school?"

"So what?" I said aggressively, sweeping a glance around the kitchen. I threw my school bag at Emmett who plucked it out of the air and slung it over his shoulder as I snatched up my car keys from the tray by the garage door. "I'm wearing whatever the hell I want to, because apparently we're changing _all_ the rules now. No point in trying to avoid attention when it's fine if _the whole fucking world_ knows what we are!"

I strode into the garage and, not bothering to open the door, leapt lightly into the driver's seat of my red convertible and tore out of the garage with a squeal of tires. The roller door was already up, Edward having left in his car to give Bella a ride already. "Now, since Edward has better things to do this morning, I'm driving to school. If anyone wants a ride, they'd better get in."

I drummed my fingers on the wheel, listening to the purr of the engine and felt a shiver of pleasure. It was a beautiful car and even if the reason for it made me want to tear Edward limb from limb, it was pleasing to have an excuse to drive it to school for once. Emmett vaulted into the front seat beside me, and seconds later Alice and Jasper joined us. "Any police on the road?" I asked Alice, and when she shook her head no I gunned the engine and shot out of the driveway leaving behind a spray of gravel.

Even for me it was a wild ride, and my last second skidding stop into the parking lot at Forks High School was truly a stunt of magnificence. For a moment I just sat in the car just enjoying the thrill that driving fast and recklessly always gave me, my earlier temper forgotten.

Unfortunately my eye catching arrival also coincided with the vice principal's arrival in his boring and mud covered Ford, and he came rapidly over to the car, paused briefly when he saw Emmett and then realised I was the one driving and then came on. "Rosalie Hale! Student drivers at this school have to obey the traffic laws and driving like that is absolutely…"

"Sorry," I said insolently. I raised my eyes to meet his gaze with my golden vampire stare as he stood beside my door, and confused his voice stumbled to a stop. His eyes flicked from my face to my legs ( _oh god, you practically could see my knickers in this skirt)_ to the very generous amount of cleavage I also had on show and then back to my face, where he blushed scarlet and mumbled incoherently into my stare, before turning and walking quickly away.

Emmett threw his head back and roared with laughter. "Fuck, what a ride! Baby doll, you rock my world. And that poor bastard when he realised he was looking straight down your shirt, I almost felt sorry for him!" He jumped out of the car and looked at the retreating figure with a grin, then looked down at me, obviously enjoying the same view I had just freaked the vice principal out with. "Although…far be it from me to tell _you_ what to do Rose…but if you're going to start dressing like that for school, next time we start over I'm telling Carlisle he'd better send you somewhere with _uniforms._ Maybe a convent or something, hmm? Do you realise what I'm going to have put up with all day with every guy in the school getting hard when they look at my girl?"

My wild drive to school having calmed me down, I began to see sense. "Ooooh," I banged my forehead into the steering wheel in despair. "Why am I so impossible? You'd think that at some point in the last eighty years I would have learned to control my temper and think before I act sometimes!" I stepped out of the car and surveyed my outfit. "Ignore them Emmett, I do. Although if you don't mind, Jasper…" I gave him a pleading look. "Can I wear your sweater?"

Without a word Jasper pulled off his grey sweater and passed it to me. Alice stepped closer to me and tugged at the knit so the neckline was sitting correctly, and then gave me a brief and surprising hug. "Don't worry about Edward and Bella. I haven't seen anything bad coming at us Rose, so you should just relax." She linked her arm in Jasper's and began leading us up the path towards the school building. "Although Edward will be arriving in half a minute and I think for decorum's sake we probably should not be here and risk a family fight breaking out in the parking lot, yes?"

We were far enough away when the Volvo pulled in and Edward and Bella got out that it made sense not to acknowledge them in any particular way. No human could have heard their words from that distance, but of course our sharp vampire ears caught Edward's comment on my car. "Ostentatious, isn't it?"

"Ostentatious!" I said, indignantly. "It's gorgeous! But really, what else could you expect from someone who drives a _Volvo?"_ Admittedly a very expensive, very well built and boosted Volvo, but even so.

"Um, wow. If she has _that_ , why does she ride with you?" Bella sounded impressed, and possibly even as though she shared my opinion of my brother's Volvo driving habits. I couldn't stop a satisfied smirk.

"Well, maybe the girl's not a _complete_ idiot," I conceded, as I left the others and went to my first class, the laughter of Emmett, Jasper and Alice ringing out in the hall behind me.

I had a physics class with Emmett just before lunch period, so the two of us walked to the cafeteria together. Jasper's sweater covered up my upper body fairly well, but there was nothing I could do about the skirt and boots and I was aware of a great deal of extra male attention as I strode down the hall. I found it amusing, and a slight balm to my wounded pride. Edward might have eyes only for the plain Bella Swan, but I could still turn heads if I wanted too.

Emmett was definitely not amused. Not an overly possessive person at all, even he had limits and he was in an uncharacteristically bad mood. When the fourth freshman in a row stumbled over his own feet and blushed scarlet when I flounced past, Emmett grimaced at him in a way that really showed far too many teeth and the poor boy walked straight into a bank of lockers.

"Emmett," I said reprovingly. "He's just a child for goodness' sake!"

"Yeah well, it's about time he learned to keep his damn eyes to himself," Emmett grumbled, yanking open the door to the cafeteria. We joined the line for food, noting Alice and Jasper already seated at our regular table and Edward and Bella seated cosily together on the opposite side of the room.

My irritation was short lived though as Emmett, standing behind me in line, grabbed my hips and pulled me back against him. He wrapped his arms tight around me, and with a smug sense of self-satisfaction I felt him hard against my back and realised that the freshmen were certainly not the only ones appreciating my assets today. I glanced coquettishly over my shoulder and smiled at him. "You forgive me for being a raging bitch then?"

Emmett snorted, and bent his head to nip playfully at my neck. "Baby doll, how long have we been together? Do you think I'm suddenly going to be bothered by you being a bitch _now?_ While you're wearing _that?_ If I wasn't a man of such self-control I'd be fucking you over the salad bar already."

I laughed and shuddered delicately. "Human food…eww."

We joined Alice and Jasper, who appeared bored but were in fact listening avidly to every word uttered between Edward and Bella Swan.

"He ate _pizza_ for her!" Alice sounded entranced, while Jasper looked slightly sick.

"Damn," Emmett swung a chair around and sat backward, pushing his own tray slightly further away from him. "He really has lost his mind." He snorted. "He's dazzling her now. Fucking hell, this is just sick making. If Rose and I are ever so sloppy about each other, rip me apart because I won't deserve to live."

"I think it's sweet," Alice was clearly all in favour of what was taking place on the other side of the cafeteria. I could tell she was thinking about her future friendship with Bella. "They're adorable."

"I don't like it," Jasper murmured, as we listened to Edward and Bella discuss plans spending time together. "I am not comfortable with a human knowing so much. The threat to our safety concerns me."

"And now he's going to take her out in the sun." I gripped the edge of the table, the metal as malleable as clay in my supernaturally strong hands. Emmett's hand covered mine and when I released the table he discreetly smoothed out the indentation of my hands. The table had slight bumps and bulges all along the edge- this was not the first time such a thing had happened.

We listened to the two of them talk of hunting, all of us astounded by how much Edward spoke of so casually to this human girl. Alice, enraptured by the idea of a romance and delighted by the prospect of a human girl friend, was thrilled by the intimacy of the conversation, while Emmett was primarily amused by the girl's unexpected reactions. I caught Jasper's eye across the table, and could tell that he was not happy with the turn the conversation had taken- Edward was behaving unpredictably, and with an apparently reckless and selfish disregard for the safety and security of the rest of the family. Dangerous games indeed.

* * *

Chapter 17- Gambling.

I drove my car to school every day for the rest of the week.

Listening to her conversations with Edward in the halls and the cafeteria, I learned more about Bella Swan than I ever wanted to know. I still did not understand what there was in this quiet, unremarkable human girl that had touched the previously untouchable Edward so deeply and driven him to his current point of insanity.

But what rang clear to me, in the girl's quiet measured answers to Edward's questions, was her humanity. This girl had a family- a father, a mother and stepfather who all cared deeply. She missed walking in the sun. She slept, she dreamed…she had a _life._ She had everything, _everything_ I would have traded my existence for. And as I watched her falling under Edward's spell I raged, knowing the sheer futility of it, because I knew she was going to let it all slip through her fingers.

"You shouldn't encourage him!" I said sharply to Alice, as she Emmett, Jasper and I sat in the cafeteria once again. She and Edward had plans to play truant from their afternoon classes and go out in the forest.

"We're just going hunting," she replied innocently. "If he's going to spend the day with her tomorrow- and he _will_ \- it's better if he's not thirsty."

"Like it'll make that much difference," Emmett sounded bored with the whole conversation. "There's no way he's going to be able to be _alone_ with _that_ and control himself."

"He's managed so far," Alice pointed out.

"Yeah, but that's here, in public." Emmett swung backwards on his chair. "Out somewhere, just the two of them, when he _knows_ that no one knows where she is and couldn't even start to go looking for her if she doesn't get back? Not a chance." His eyes sparkled. "I'll bet you…how much?"

Alice shook her head. "Emmett, really!"

My lips twitched. "I'll take the bet. I'd _like_ to think this whole situation might just come to an end, but I think he'll bring her back…parts for my car if I win?"

"You're on. Jas?" Emmett looked at Jasper hopefully.

Jasper grinned back. "Not going to bet against you in regards to this one, brother. I think, even for Edward, that this may not be possible."

We stopped talking, and so it was that Bella's next words came to us very clearly. _"They don't like me."_

I looked over at them, and for the first time Bella Swan met my eyes. I held her there, mesmerised, and mentally shouted at Edward. _Stop doing this! It's wrong Edward! It can only end in disaster!_

I heard his furious hiss, and looked away, knowing that once again I was helpless in the face of his determination.

Alice rose to her feet and dropped her unopened soda and uneaten sandwich into the trash can. "Well, I'm going to go and say hello to Bella and fetch Edward." As she tripped elegantly away from us, she paused for a moment to turn and smile at me. "You might want to find the parts for your car Rosalie, because Emmett is going to lose that bet."

"We'll see about that," he said cheerfully, and then raised his hands at my look. "What?"

"You're betting against a psychic? _Both_ of you?"

Jasper looked abashed, but Emmett simply laughed comfortably. "She's not being psychic about this. She's just being…optimistic."

Nevertheless, when I found some more car parts on the internet that night, I made sure to bookmark them and email the link to Emmett, who got the alert on his phone and then chased me all over the house hollering and laughing.

We were all in the living room later on, watching a movie in simple domestic bliss. Carlisle and Esme were holding hands on a love seat, Alice was curled in Jasper's lap in the armchair, and Emmett and I were stretched out side by side on the massive sofa, his arm slung protectively over me. I stroked his hand as it lay on my hip and he dipped his head and breathed in the scent of my hair. "My pretty girl."

Alice raised her head. "Edward's coming."

As we waited for his arrival, I looked around the room and had a flash of sympathy for Edward, coming home to this for so many decades, always the odd man out. I knew how much the flagrancy of the relationship between Emmett and I irritated him and I had always mocked him for it as jealousy and dismissed it. But as his passion for Bella Swan had shown him as being capable of falling in love, I wondered briefly how hard it had been for him to live for so long alone.

"Here's Edward!" Alice sang, as he walked through from the garage. He was smiling and looking more relaxed than I'd seen him in weeks as he took the opposite end of the sofa from me and Emmett.

"And Bella?" Emmett raised his head.

"Bella is safely at home." Edward scowled at us, picking thoughts out of Emmett's head. "You had bets?!"

I grinned at him and shook my head. "Don't growl at me. For once I'm not the bad guy…I might have been betting, but at least I was betting you'd bring her back!"

"You children are terrible," Esme said reprovingly. She smiled lovingly at Edward. "Did you have a good day?"

"It was…possibly the most wonderful day of my existence," Edward said softly. "Bella is truly extraordinary."

I buried my face in Emmett's arm, and bit down hard on his wrist in an effort to not respond to Edward's comment and the look of maternal joy on Esme's face. I knew that she and Carlisle, as much as they were concerned about the implications for the family, would be thrilled at the idea that Edward had found love. It was something they had wanted for him for so long- after all, wasn't that why I had been created? But to encourage his current infatuation with this human Bella Swan?

"Tomorrow, I'd like to give you the chance to meet her," Edward went on slowly. "I am seeing her again and I thought, if you wished, I should perhaps bring her here."

* * *

Chapter 18- In the Garage.

Sitting cross legged on the floor of the garage, I examined the rows of parts and pieces laid out neatly on the sheet before me, debating where to start. I'd done most of the body work on my Mille Miglia and was now contemplating the engine rebuild. I was attempting to ignore Emmett, who was juggling spanners behind me and trying to convince me to come inside and allow myself to be introduced to Bella Swan.

"Rosaaaaaaaaaaaaliiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeee," Emmett dragged my name out until it seemed about twelve syllables long. He sounded like a toddler. "You've got to come inside babe…or are you just going to hide out here all day being Princess Bitchface?"

"Second option, thank you."

"Aww, baby doll," Emmett sighed and sat down beside me, handing over his handful of spanners. "You need to just give it up- Edward's going to do what Edward's going to do whatever anyone else says, so why fight it?"

"Because what Edward is doing is _wrong,"_ I slotted the spanners carefully back into their place, trying to pretend I couldn't hear the Volvo pulling up on the driveway. "I don't want her here."

I listened to Edward bringing Bella into the house, and the introductions with Carlisle and Esme. I heard Alice's exuberant friendliness and Jasper's warier politeness, and then I smelled the scent of Bella Swan drifting out to the garage as she moved through our house. I listened to her admire our home, and I heard Edward's quiet response. _"It's the one place we never have to hide."_

I closed my eyes, and wished I could weep with the sadness that welled up from deep within. "That's why I don't want her here Emmett," I said quietly. "Because this is _home_ , the one place in the world where we don't have to hide, where I don't have to spend every second of every day keeping an iron control over myself and pretending to be something I'm not. Because here at home it doesn't matter if I don't sleep or eat, or if I can lift up my car when I want to look underneath it and run like the wind and can't be hurt…none of that matters here Emmett, because in this house we're all the same. Here at home, when it's just our family, I can be _ordinary._ I can be normal, but now there's a human here with her _warmth_ and her _smell_ and all I can see is everything I'm _not…"_

Emmett wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into his lap and muffling my words in his broad chest. I let him hold me, and then looked up to find him gazing down at me, his face troubled. "Why do you not see what I see?" he asked softly, and there was no trace of laughter or humour in his tone. "When I look at you, Rosa girl…I see the angel that saved my life and I love everything you are."

His big hands traced the lines of my face, slid down the slope of my back and across the curve of my legs, before he wrapped his fist in my long tail of hair and gently tugged it to guide my lips to meet his.

"You're my world, pretty girl," he murmured, "and I love _everything_ you are. I love that you're strong and fierce and unbreakable and dangerous. I love that you broke a fucking bear's neck to save my life and carried me a hundred miles to make me yours. I love that you can run and jump and hunt, and that you're so damn determined and stubborn that you can also _stop_ yourself from doing all that when you have to!" He laughed joyously and fell backwards on to the tiled garage floor, taking me with him and then holding me close and laying a trail of hot kisses from my lips down my throat. "I love that you're a badass bitch who says what she thinks and doesn't take shit from anyone, even me! I love that you know what you want and you don't let anything stop you from going out and taking it."

I seized his face between my two hands and kissed him back. "What I want right now is you, Emmett."

"Ah, Rosa girl…" he had our clothes off in seconds and his hands seemed to be everywhere at once, making me shiver and writhe as he touched me with the skill born of long practice.

I wrapped my legs around him and drew him closer, feeling him big and hard and urgently wanting, and I pulled his face down to kiss him again. "Want you now, Emmett," I breathed. "Now, please…oh god, yes!"

He had me, on the garage floor and the hood of the car and against the wall. Hard and fast and slow and sweet and every way in between, and always there was kisses, and laughter, and the heat of his everlasting love for me. When we were both sated at last, lying side by side on the cool floor with Emmett cradling me in his big safe arms and my leg flung over his hip, he touched my mouth with gentle fingers and made me look him in his dark golden eyes. "Beautiful girl, I don't want normal, I don't want ordinary…I just want _you."_

I smiled at him, and with a final kiss I rolled away and found my clothes to dress. Emmett pulled on his jeans and then looked down at where I had gone back to sitting in front of my rows of car parts.

"You're still not going to come inside and make nice?"

I shook my head. "No."

Emmett chuckled, and dropped a kiss on the top of my head. "Okay, Princess Bitchface."

I stayed well out of the way of the rest of the family for the next several hours. I worked on my car, and then simply lay underneath it, listening to music and thinking. I was pulled out of my reverie much later by footsteps entering the garage, and I rolled my eyes to the side to see who it was. Alice.

"Rosalie Hale McCarty Cullen," she said with uncharacteristic sternness. "You need to stop your sulking and come out from underneath there right now!"

Impressed by the use of all my surnames, I scooted backwards until the car was no longer above me and then jumped to my feet. Alice stood before me with her hands on her hips and, oddly enough, a hairbrush in one hand. I eyed it warily. "Are you planning on spanking me with that?"

Alice trilled a laugh. "No! Although, if I thought it might have the slightest effect I _would_ be rather tempted…you're behaving shamefully, Rosalie." She looked at me reproachfully. "You could give Bella a chance, you know."

Finished sulking but certainly not in any mood for a lecture, I just shrugged. "Was there something you wanted?"

Alice raised the hairbrush. "I want to braid your hair." She smiled at my evident surprise. "There's going to be a storm tonight and Emmett wants to play ball…since I know you're going to play, even though Edward is bringing Bella, I thought I'd fix your hair for you."

"As if I'd miss a game of baseball," I said, obediently seating myself on a stool. A real game, with no holding back? Watching my gorgeous Emmett in his physical element? A chance to vent some rage and kick Edward's ass? As if I'd let Bella Swan keep me from that!

Alice stood behind me and picked up handfuls of hair, gently brushing out the tangles that the earlier activities with Emmett had left snarled into my usually smooth hair. Alice had a knack with hair and loved to style mine. I know she felt the biggest flaw of the vampire body was its inability to grow hair- it frustrated her that the length of hair we'd all had when we were changed was what we were left with. She was deft and quick, and brushing and braiding took little time. When she was finished she encircled my shoulders with her arms and bent her head down to kiss me on the cheek. I could see the two of us reflected in the side mirror of Emmett's jeep, one dark head and one fair, both of us with identical ice white skin and golden eyes that met in the mirror.

"I love you Rosalie," Alice whispered. "I know that you're not happy with what is happening…but you were my first sister and you are so special to me." She held me for a long minute, and then jumped up with a laugh. "Now come on, go and get changed out of those filthy overalls…let's play ball."

* * *

Chapter 19- Play ball.

The atmosphere out at the ball field was eerie and electric. Dark clouds scudded across the sky in front of a fast wind, and we could hear the distant rumble of thunder and see the flashes of lightning streaking across the sky. Perfect weather for baseball.

As Carlisle marked bases and Alice and Jasper threw warm up balls to each other in the outfield, I sat on the rocky outcrop with Emmett and Esme.

"I'm so glad you decided to play tonight Rosalie," Esme said quietly. "I know it means a lot to Edward that the family is accepting of Bella."

I snorted impatiently. "Accepting of Bella…no thanks. I'm just here to play ball." As Emmett mock growled at me and pretended to shake me, I caught sight of Esme's unhappy face and sighed.

I disentangled myself from Emmett's arms and pushed him away. He rolled off the rock and hit the ground, pretending great injury, and then grabbed my face and gave me a smacking kiss. "And we're gonna win baby doll!" he said cheerfully. "No mercy tonight- gonna kick some ass!"

I watched him jog across to home plate and pick up his bat, before I looked across at Esme. "I'm sorry Esme, but I just can't be all 'yay Bella and Edward' about this. Not just because I'm being a nasty jealous bitch, or whatever it is that you are all saying about me…"

She made a noise of protest, but I overrode it. "No, I know that's what's been said." I clenched my fists in frustration. "It's just that this is so _dangerous._ For all of us, for Edward…even for Bella! What can happen? Edward kills her and then has to live with himself, knowing what he's done? We all have to move again, change names, start over again? He changes her and makes her what we are? The Volturi find out that we're not keeping secrets and finally have the excuse they've always wanted? You _know_ the rules Esme, we all do, and yet here is Edward breaking them all and _flaunting_ it…" I broke off as I heard a noise and Edward and Bella came through the screen of trees to the field and walked in our direction. I shook my head at Esme. "That's what I think, and I know no one is really listening to me, not when I'm going against your precious Edward, but there it is. And now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to warm up." Dusting off my pants I turned my back on Edward and Bella and ran lightly across to Emmett.

We picked teams. Emmett, Jasper and I against Carlisle, Edward and Alice, with us up at bat first. Esme, as was her habit, took on the role of referee. "Keeping them honest," I heard her telling Bella, and my lips twitched as I remembered some rather epic baseball arguments. It was why Emmett and I were nearly always on the same team when we played games- not just because we always picked each other, but because none of the others could bear listening to our hyper competitive arguments if we were pitted against each other.

It was a good game. Our teams were evenly matched and everyone was intent on winning today. We all had our own strengths- Emmett was the strongest hitter, Edward was the fastest runner, I was the best at stealing bases. We also were not above cheating, Edward shamelessly reading our intentions at every turn, Jasper influencing feelings to make people more relaxed and less competitive. Esme was called in to referee when Alice began hitting and then just heading towards the base (or back to the bench) that she saw she would end up at, the rest of us arguing that she had to run or it would ruin the game. Bella watched with evident entertainment.

I was beginning to think the evening might even pass without incident when Alice, poised to bat, suddenly gasped and whirled to face Bella. Edward was by her side in an instant and the rest of us, even me standing in the outfield, recognised the signs and gathered at home plate.

"What is it Alice?" Carlisle asked.

"They were traveling quicker than I thought. I had the perspective wrong before…they heard us playing and it changed their path," Alice whispered.

Strangers. Vampires, coming here. I automatically reached for Emmett as my gaze flickered towards Bella. _Her._ Human and defenceless…except for us.

"Less than five minutes," Alice told us, her face tense.

"Can you make it?" Carlisle said swiftly to Edward.

"No, not carrying…" Edward's voice cut off. "And anyway, the last thing we need is for them to catch the scent and start hunting."

"Three of them!" Emmett mocked. "Let them come." He had an arm looped over my shoulder, and I could feel the bands of muscle in his forearm. It was easy to tell that the idea of a fight appealed to him. It was an equally simple matter to tell that it was the last thing the rest of us wanted.

"Let's continue the game," Carlisle said finally. "Alice said they were simply curious."

The good mood was gone though, and a sense of danger permeated the air and had every one of my senses alert and singing. I took the ball and went to the pitcher's mound, but my tosses were half hearted and my eyes constantly scanned the forest around us, waiting. I tried to pretend that the warm and human scent of Bella Swan was not the most delicious thing in the clearing.

They came out of the forest silently, two men and a woman. They were dressed casually, wildly- it was clear from their movements that they were not vampires like us, even before they came close enough that I could see the glowing red of their eyes.

Carlisle, Emmett and Jasper stepped forward to greet them. With the strangers' attention directed towards the men I stepped closer to Alice and Esme, and the three of us stood in a casual group, orienting ourselves in such a way as to shield Edward and Bella as much as possible.

For a moment I thought we would get away with it. They spoke politely, and Carlisle gracefully side stepped the issue of playing and invited them home. Their curiosity piqued, they were about to agree when the wind shifted and all of us were suddenly accosted with a wave of sweet smelling scent from the very thing we were hoping to protect- Bella Swan.

It was over.

* * *

Chapter 20- Running.

Outwardly, it did not seem at first that we were plummeting towards disaster. The vampire Laurent gave assurances in his elegant tones that they would not be hunting in our area, and the other two, James and Victoria, did not vocally contradict him. As Edward, Alice and Emmett hustled Bella across the field and back towards the Jeep, Carlisle placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Rosalie will lead the way home," he said courteously.

Laurent's eyes swept from the top of my blonde head to my bare feet and back again, and then he stepped closer. "I am very interested to see your home and hear more of your way of life," he said smoothly.

"If that's settled then, perhaps we should go," Carlisle suggested. "Jasper, collect the bats please." He sounded so utterly normal and relaxed for a moment I forgot there was anything to fear.

However before we could leave, James and Victoria made their excuses. Smooth and plausible- yes, lovely to meet us, must keep going, have a meeting planned up north, no can't possibly take the time- and no mention of Bella, but as they strode confidently away from the rest of us I noticed Jasper crushing the aluminium baseball bat like a candy wrapper in his hands, and Carlisle's voice was a great deal shorter as he went across and took Esme's hand. "Home, Rosalie. Now please."

Gracefully I turned and ran, Laurent keeping pace with me. "You really do not drink human blood?" he asked as we flew through the forest.

"No," I flashed him a glance. "I never have. We drink only from animals now, and we consider ourselves a family who will protect their own."

Protect our own…and it seemed, as we went home and waited and learned what we could from Laurent, that Bella Swan was now considered to be one of us. With the vampire James being a tracker who had scented her and was now determined to kill her, protecting her was becoming a very difficult task.

I was fiercely relieved to see Emmett come barrelling in through the door at last, although there was a sharp feeling of resentment in my gut when I saw he was carrying Bella. I knew he loved a fight, I knew that this was nothing but a game to him, but I had a flash of memory of Volterra and the consequences for a vampire who broke the rules, and I took the situation seriously enough for both of us. _Not my Emmett._

"What's the plan?"

"We'll lead him off, and then Jasper and Alice will run her south."

"And then?"

"We hunt him," Edward said flatly, and this time not even Carlisle argued.

Emmett's eyes sparkled with glee, and so horrified was I by the risk that he was taking so cavalierly that when Edward told me to take Bella upstairs and change clothes with her I turned on him with fury. "Why should I? What is she to me? Except a menace- a danger you've chosen to inflict on all of us?"

Emmett reached out to me, and with a look of hatred Edward turned away and asked Esme to exchange outfits with Bella.

"Rosalie…" Emmett tipped my face up towards his. "Come on baby doll, you don't mean that. You're going to help us out."

The worst of it was that I _did_ mean it. Bella Swan _was_ a danger to us all, and that this stupid nothing of a human girl might cause my Emmett to be hurt was intolerable.

"I'll help you," I said through gritted teeth. "I'll help, because for all of his damn reckless pigheadedness Edward is my brother. But god help me, Emmett, if you are not careful and let yourself get hurt I will hunt you down and set the fire myself!"

For a moment Emmett looked startled and then he laughed, the sound of his mirth jarringly out of place in the tense atmosphere. He lifted me up and crushed me to him, so I wrapped my legs around his waist and buried my face in his neck. "I love you," I said, so low and fast I knew no one else would hear. "You're _mine_ and I want you back Emmett. I need you. I know you think this is a game, but it's not and you _must_ take it seriously. I can't lose you, you understand that?"

Emmett twined his hands in my braids and kissed my mouth like we had all the time in the world. "Understood, pretty girl," he said gravely. "I'm just gonna help Edward and Carlisle take care of this, and then I'm coming back home to you. Straight back home, and I'll be all in one piece for you, I promise." He kissed me again, soft and tenderly. "I love you, my angel…it's going to be okay."

As soon as Esme and Bella reappeared we were ready to go. Without a word Edward threw Bella's truck keys at me and I caught them, gave Emmett one last, fierce squeeze, and headed for the door. Bella looked terrified and for a moment I pitied her, caught up in this supernatural world she by rights should have known nothing about.

Esme and I were to take Bella's truck and attempt to leave a false trail. Dressed in Bella's clothes and looking oddly like a teenager with her long brown hair hanging forward around her face, Esme smelled like a human and made sure to move in Bella's slow and clumsy style as we climbed into the truck. It was possible that, from a distance, we might be seen and the ruse believed.

We were silent as I pushed Bella's ancient vehicle to its limits on our race out of town. I turned west and wondered how far we would get.

"Are we being followed?" I asked eventually. I had been looking, but could see nothing.

"Alice said we would be," Esme told me. "She said the woman would follow us, but she didn't know how long we will keep her on our trail."

"Hopefully long enough," I muttered, pushing the accelerator and wondering how far the truck would make it. "There's one thing about this anyway," I added, several long and silent minutes later. "At least I finally get my hands on Bella Swan's piece of shit truck and can do something about the blasted engine in it…I don't think I can stand to listen to it over rev when she starts it in the school parking lot ever again."

There was a beat of silence and then, surprisingly, Esme laughed. "You and your cars, Rosalie!"

I had thought she was furious with me for my behaviour earlier in the night, and it was with a sense of relief that I heard the kindness in her voice. Perhaps understanding where my feelings were, Esme spoke to me gently. "I am glad you helped tonight Rosalie- we needed everyone in the family to make this work. I _do_ understand your feelings about Bella, at least somewhat, but Edward loves her and that makes her part of the family. And we are always, _always_ there for family when they need us."

My eyes were focussed on the road but I nodded slightly, and after a time Esme spoke again. "Bella has made Edward very happy, Rosalie. Think of how long he has been alone, and how much this love is changing him. Carlisle and I have wondered if he would ever find someone, and it has given us great joy to see him find love with Bella, despite the problems. I would love to see him as happy with a mate as I have been with Carlisle, or you are with Emmett. It's all that any mother wants for her child really, to see them find happiness, whatever form that takes."

"Not that I'll ever know about that." Bitterness, sour and familiar, rose in my mouth and once again I saw in my mind's eye a small baby, with Emmett's curly hair and dark lashes, a dream that I knew would never be mine.

Esme touched my hand tentatively, but for once I didn't pull away. "We never know what life has in store for us Rosalie. I did not dream that I would find the family I have, and yet here I am and I feel blessed beyond measure. I know how you struggle with the loss of your human dreams, and my heart aches for you. I understand perhaps a little more than the others about that particular dream." Her eyes softened and I was reminded that once, in a long ago human life, Esme had borne and lost a child. She patted my hand. "There are wonderful things in your future Rosalie. Perhaps not the fulfilment of dreams in the way you would choose, but there are many ways to find happiness. You will find your way, dear girl."

I took my hand off the wheel and held hers for a long moment. The hand of my mother.

When the gas in Bella's truck became dangerously low we stopped to fill it up. Esme huddled in the cab while I stood outside, waiting impatiently, scanning the surrounding dark forest. And then I saw her, just beyond the edge of the lighted gas station forecourt. The red haired female, poised catlike and wary as she caught my eye. For a moment we stared at each other across the space, then her mouth curved up in a smile and she turned and vanished.

She was going back to Forks.

Chapter 20- Trailing Victoria.

I threw money at the gas station attendant, not waiting for change, and then leapt back into the truck. "She knows," I said shortly. "I just saw her- she's heading back to Forks." I wrenched the wheel of the truck around and metal of the beast shrieked as we rocked up on two wheels from my too tight turn, taking the road back the way we had come. "This thing is a tank…what I wouldn't give for my BMW right now!"

Esme didn't answer, her fingers moving like lightning as she tapped out a text message to Carlisle on the phone. A moment later she got an answer.

 _Follow her. See where she goes. If she goes back to Forks, protect Charlie Swan. Stay safe my love._

I gunned the engine, hoping the truck wouldn't let us down. "I could run faster than this thing," I said quietly.

"Perhaps…" Esme stopped as the cell phone buzzed, and then she handed it to me with a brief and anxious smile. I glanced at the message, and despite the seriousness of our situation couldn't help my own answering smile.

 _Love you baby doll! XXXXXX Emmett._

"Perhaps you should run?" Esme suggested slowly. "You're right that you can run faster than this vehicle…" Her voice trailed to a stop. Esme was the heart of our family, her fierce love and protection holding us together, but she did not often have strong opinions on our plans. "It might be dangerous though, Rosalie, you would need to be very careful."

I shrugged. "I can hold my own against her. Take the wheel."

Without even slowing, Esme and I changed places. She frowned as she held the wheel and felt the shuddering vibrations of the truck as it strained to keep up the speed I had been demanding of it. "I've driven a truck like this before…in the 50s I believe."

I giggled, and the sound of it lifted the tension and Esme smiled back at me. "Take it back home," I instructed her. "Put it in the garage and…well, later on, when this is finished…I'll get it running like a sports car." Agilely I slid through the window, holding on to the outside of the truck and looking back at Esme. "I'll follow her. You take the truck back home and then go to the Swan house or the police station to watch Charlie Swan. Edward won't forgive us if something happens to him. I'll see if I can work out what this girl is going to do, and I'll find you." At Esme's nod, I released my grip and leapt lightly from the side of the speeding truck.

I was nowhere near being a tracker, but I was a good hunter and easily found the trail of the female vampire. I flew silently along in her wake, thinking of nothing but speed and stealth and following the scent of the red haired female. If the situation had not been so serious I could have enjoyed myself out in the dark night, running fast, the world flashing by me washed clean by the earlier rain.

As I had thought was her intention, the female went back to Forks. First to the Swan house, and then following old trails of Bella. I tracked her through the town, to the library, the diner, the police station, Forks high school. I watched from the edge of the forest as she stood on the front steps and spoke into a cell phone, too quietly for me to hear, and then she slipped it into a pocket and leapt lightly up on to the balustrade, smiling in my direction.

"I know you're there," she called, her voice high and happy sounding.

I stepped out of the shadows and looked at her evenly. "I've not been trying to hide."

"Such effort to protect a _human!_ " Her voice sounded mockingly amused.

"She's ours." I could feel her eyes assessing me, and I stood straight and tall, every inch of me arrogantly beautiful. _Keep your temper Rosalie_. "You'll never touch her."

"We'll see about that." She took a flying leap up to the roof of the building and I scrambled after her. She seemed to be expecting me, standing and waiting and smiling that curved and mocking smile. "Your… _family_ …certainly are persistent. Such fun to play games with! However, as enjoyable as this might be, it's nearly over now. The little human girl has gone home to her _mother,_ how sweet. And how very easily she is going to be caught." She raised her hand in a farewell wave. "So give up now and go home to your mate. Assuming he _does_ come home to you."

I drew my lips back in a snarl, and all pretence vanished as she crouched and hissed at me like the lethal and conscienceless predator she was. For a moment we were poised, face to face, and then she backed away slowly. "Perhaps we shall meet again one day," she said, and then vanished over the edge of the building, streaking away into the forest.

This time I didn't follow, but pulled the cell phone from my pocket and punched in a number.

"Rosalie," Edward answered, his voice tight.

"They know where she is," I said bluntly. "I've been tracking the woman- she's been at the high school…"

"Bella's records," Edward breathed. His voice sounded desperate. "The tracker got a phone call and got on a plane…"

"He'll be going to Phoenix. The woman, I just spoke to her, she said it's nearly over…you have to go to Phoenix Edward, _now._ "

"Charlie Swan?" Edward's voice was brusque.

"Esme hasn't let him out of her sight," I told him. "She and I can take care of things here, everyone is safe here…just call Alice, tell her to watch Bella, and get yourself to Phoenix Edward!"

"Thank you Rosalie," he said stiffly. "I…you've done well. Thank you."

I snapped the cell phone shut and vaulted from the roof to land in a tree in the forest. Easily enough I picked up the scent of the female and continued to follow her for several hours, as she ran through the forest and well out of town. It was only when she stole an unattended car from a truck stop and took off down the highway that I turned my steps back towards home.

I was alone at the house. Despite being fairly sure that the woman was gone and would not return, Esme maintained her vigil over Charlie Swan. Edward, Carlisle and Emmett waited in the airport for the next plane to Arizona, and down in Phoenix Alice and Jasper stayed with Bella Swan, at the centre of our storm. I wondered how Jasper was coping with being held in such close quarters with the scent of Bella's blood an inescapable presence.

Unable to wait patiently, I went out to the garage and overhauled Bella Swan's truck. Whoever had reconditioned the engine for her had done so with considerable care and skill, and I wondered who it was, but the parts they had used were old and there was room for me to replace things and recondition others. So it was that I worked on the car, occasionally threw things in furious impatience, and waited to hear what was happening. Always in the back of my mind was Emmett, beautiful reckless Emmett… _come home to me Emmett. I want you. Need you. Love you. Come home._

Then finally, _finally_ , the cell phone buzzed and I snatched it up and read the message.

 _Coming home. It's all good. Love you Rosa. XXXX Emmett._

As a vampire I was not able to seek release in tears, but for a long time after I read Emmett's message I stood very still, my fists pressed tightly to my eyes.

* * *

Chapter 22- Homecoming.

I met them at the airport. As soon as I saw Emmett's brawny shoulders above the crowd coming through the arrival gate I threw myself at him, and he caught me up in his big strong arms and swung me high with a whoop. "Hey baby doll!"

Heedless of the spectacle I knew we were making I wrapped my arms and jean clad legs around him and kissed him, with a fierceness and passion he more than returned. "Missed you so much," I whispered against his full lips. "Don't leave me alone again Emmett, I don't know what to do without you near me."

"Oh my angel girl," Emmett said nothing else, but the hard lips on mine and the big hands holding me tight assured me that he felt the same way.

Beside us Jasper cleared his throat, and I slid down til my feet reached the floor, but I didn't let go of Emmett. Alice was smiling indulgently at me, her own hand clasped lightly in Jasper's. "It's good to see you Rose!"

Carlisle reached over and touched my shoulder gently. "Rosalie. Thank you my dear, thank you. It's wonderful to see you again. Edward sends his love, and his thanks for your help with the female and protecting Bella's father."

"How is everything…in Phoenix?" I asked uncertainly, leading the way out to where I had left the car.

"Fine now," Alice said, daintily stepping into the BMW. "Bella will be in hospital for a few more days and then in a cast until the broken leg heals. Edward is staying in the hospital with her, and will travel with her back to Forks when the doctors release her."

I nodded, and felt Emmett squeeze my thigh as he sprawled out in the seat beside me. "Tell me the whole story now."

Carlisle told me the story, the other three interrupting each other to get in all the details, as I sped back to Forks. I could not help but be impressed, especially when I heard about Edward sucking the blood from Bella's hand after the tracker vampire had bit her.

"He really did that?" I asked. "That's just…amazing."

"Yeah, he did," Emmett shuddered. "Fuck knows how, I couldn't even stay in the damn room with the smell of all that blood." He exchanged a wry glance with Jasper, and then grinned and shrugged. "Jas and I had a fire to play with though. Guess we taught that bastard not to mess with our family."

I touched the hand that still lay heavy on my thigh. "I guess you did." I glanced back at Alice. "If Edward stopped her changing now, that way…do you still see her becoming one of us?"

Alice's eyes were intent. "The future is still undecided. Edward is sure of himself now and he won't kill her. That risk is gone. But Bella becoming one of us…that future is still there, still possible. Edward insists that it must not happen, but his insistence hasn't changed the vision at all, so I really don't know Rosalie." She sighed, a little frustrated. "We just need to wait and see…goodness, I hate living in the unknown like everyone else!"

The boys laughed at her, but I turned my face back to the road silently. The immediate threat to Bella was gone, but her impact on my family and the risk and dangers she represented were still a very real threat.

I was desperate to be alone with Emmett, and as soon as possible I made excuses and hastened to our room. As soon as the door shut behind us I grabbed him and threw him on the bed, pinning him flat with my hands grasping his wrists and my legs straddling his waist. He smiled up at me, deceptively lazily, and then in the blink of an eye flipped me over to the floor and stretched out on top of me, pressing me immobile to the carpet. I let him kiss me and opened my legs to him, sinking into the sensation of his big, muscular body heavy on mine…waiting until he was distracted enough by what I was doing with my lips and tongue and teeth that when I planted my palms on his chest and pushed he was caught unprepared and flew halfway across the room. He landed like a cat, and his face stretched into an impish grin.

"So, it's like that is it?" He moved like a snake getting into position. "Why so aggressive, baby doll?"

"I don't ever want you to go away again," I said in a low voice, keeping my body in a crouch as he circled around. My mouth curved in a smile. "You're too reckless Emmett…what do you think I would have done if you'd got hurt?"

Emmett feinted to the left and then dove right, seizing me in the iron grip of his arms, the momentum rolling the two of us over until Emmett's back hit the wall. The impact caused half the wall to fall in, and plaster dust rained down on us like snowflakes.

"Esme'll have your head for that," I pointed out, squirming in his arms but not trying very hard to wriggle free.

"Don't care," Emmett pinned me between his thighs and rubbed his face in my hair, breathing deeply. "So you worried about me while I was gone then?"

I stilled. "You're my world Emmett," I whispered, and this time there was no acting and no lies, just bare honesty as I turned to look into his eyes, dark with a combination of desire and thirst. "The idea that you might have been hurt was intolerable."

"What about you?" Emmett's hand slipped into my shirt and curved around my breast. "Tracking that bitch around Forks by yourself? You think that was easy for me to think about?"

"I can take care of myself." I pressed my lips to his throat, and moved my head down, nipping at his chest through his tshirt. I heard the rumble of pleasure from deep inside him, and tugged the shirt free of his jeans and eased it over his head.

"I know you can," Emmett slid my own shirt off my shoulders and ran his hands over my breasts. "And I love that, Rosa girl. I love how strong you are. I love that I can watch you take on the world and know that you're gonna fight and kick and scream until it works out the way you want it to. But you need to let me do that too." He cupped my face in his hands and kissed me long and deeply, ending with a smile against my mouth. "We're equals, my angel, always have been…both of us ready and willing to go and out and kick ass when it comes to something that matters!" I could feel him vibrating with a laugh deep in his belly, and then he went on, quiet and serious. "Just so long as we both come home to each other…because we belong together, you and I…always."

He rolled us out of the plaster dust, and I laughed to see his hair made prematurely grey. He chuckled too, and took the opportunity to divest us both of our remaining clothes. He teased me then, with his hands and body and mouth, until I was aching with need and he finally gave himself to me. Slow and deep, not letting me rush, moving with exquisite care until he had me burning, then when I lost myself in the end he let himself go with a sob. "Oh god, oh Rosa, Rosa…" And we clung together, two people made one and drowning in waves of pleasure as he mumbled my name and I mouthed the word _mine_ into his broad chest.

We lay together in the rubble of the destroyed wall, face to face and gazes locked, hands roaming over familiar, beloved bodies. I could see Emmett thinking, and finally he spoke. "What we have…you and I, this is good." He paused and I could see him searching to find the right words. "Thing is, we're creatures from mythology but I don't want some fucking fairytale romance. I want real, and this is real Rosa. This is what I want. You and me. Talking and laughing, and fucking and fighting and wrestling, and playing ball and fixing cars and making love…this is the way I want it to be, and I wouldn't change it for anything."

I closed my eyes and kissed him, and for once I didn't pretend that I could hear a heartbeat. Instead I lay in the silent, stone embrace of my vampire lover and felt content.

* * *

Chapter 23. Prom.

"There." Alice said in satisfaction, pinning a final curl into place. She considered me for a moment, twitched one long tendril of hair a miniscule amount, and smiled at me. "Perfect. You're going to have a lovely evening."

"Prom," I said blankly. "Tell me again…why are we going to a _prom?_ Especially a prom here in _Forks?"_

I hadn't been to a prom in twenty years, and I was not entirely certain I had any real desire to go to this one, but Alice had come tripping home from a shopping trip a few days ago with three dress bags over her shoulder and announced gaily that she'd bought new dresses for me, Bella and herself because she'd seen us all going to go to the prom. It had made me wonder a little sceptically how much of her visions were just the power of suggestion on the rest of us- she told us what she saw us doing and we just went ahead and did it because it was easier than arguing with her.

"It's Bella's first prom," Alice told me again. She had brought Bella to the house earlier in the day and spent most of the afternoon primping her for the evening, eventually sending her back to her father's house so Edward could call for her in the time honoured manner. "And Edward's first chance to go with someone he loves…how could we not go?"

I slipped a set of ruby drop earrings into my ears. "Of course, missing such an event would be inexcusable," I murmured sarcastically, but I didn't really mind. The red dress Alice had chosen for me was spectacular, and Emmett in a tux was not something to be scoffed at.

In her shimmering gold dress, Alice clapped her hands. "The limousine will be here shortly- I'm going to go and check on Emmett and Jasper and make sure they're looking as splendid as you do Rose!" She darted out of the room and I picked up the small beaded handbag on the dresser and drifted slowly down the stairs.

Edward, already dressed in his tux, was sitting at the piano and playing softly. Slightly hesitatingly I went and sat down beside him, listening as he played the end of the piece before he turned and smiled at me.

"You look lovely tonight Rosalie," he said sincerely.

"Thank you. You're looking very sharp yourself…Bella will be very impressed."

Edward turned back to the piano, touching a key and listening to the resultant note. I watched his profile, and saw the sadness that underlay his smile.

"Are you…sorry?" I asked hesitantly. "That you didn't let the change continue, when you were in Phoenix?"

"No." The single word was harsh, and I thought that I had once again done and said the wrong with Edward, but a moment later he continued speaking. "I don't want this for her. I've never wanted this for her. To change her, to take away her life knowing _all_ that she would have to give up for me?" He shook his head. "No. I can't do that to her Rosalie, not when there is still a choice. Could you- if it were Emmett- take his life away if there was a choice?"

For a brief moment the thoughts I had daydreamed of for so long flooded my mind. Emmett, growing up, growing older. Emmett in the sunshine with sunburned brown skin, Emmett cradling a baby with the curly dark hair of his father and eyes the blue of the summer sky. Emmett with his hair shot through with grey. Emmett being human. But the monster inside me raised its head and roared _mine, mine, mine_ and I was honest with Edward when I spoke.

"I'm a great deal more selfish than you are, Edward. Emmett was dying when I brought him home to Carlisle, but if he hadn't been…I'm not sure that I would have had the strength to resist making him mine."

Edward's face was bleak. "I'm not as strong or unselfish as you think. I'm still here, aren't I? I'm still staying for my own selfish reasons, when the best thing for Bella would be for me to disappear from her life as if I'd never been."

"She wants you though," I said softly. "And she makes you happy, when you're with her. You deserve to be happy Edward."

Edward smiled at me, and took my hand. "Thank you Rosalie. That means a great deal to me…especially coming from you!" His voice lightened as he teased me, and I ducked my head and laughed a little, embarrassed.

"I _am_ sorry Edward! You know that I feel- that this has all been, and possibly still is, a very dangerous game. But I was petty, and jealous and let my temper get the better of me, and I am sorry for that."

Edward's arm went around me in a brotherly hug. "It's forgiven. I understand your fear for the family, we've lived with such caution and secrecy for so long and the way things are with Bella is very different."

I hugged him back briefly. "You know I am always honest with you Edward. I don't know what to say about the future for you and Bella. I can never condone changing someone into what we are, but I realise where that leaves you…I do wish you joy though, for as long as you have with her."

Edward smiled. "For as long as I have with her," he said thoughtfully. "Perhaps that's all any of us have, really, in the end." He rose to his feet and helped me to my feet. "And now I believe we have a prom to attend, and someone is waiting for you."

I turned to see Emmett, lounging elegantly against the door frame. He straightened, and gave me a soft smile. "Good evening, Miss Rosalie."

Edward laughed and twirled me expertly across the floor, before he laid my hand in Emmett's with a courtly bow. Emmett inclined his head towards Edward and raised my hand to his lips and I remembered that we were, all of us, really from another age.

There was a click, and we looked over to see Carlisle on the stairs with the camera, Esme beside him beaming. "Smile!" Carlisle said, and snapped another.

"My, we are being very human tonight, aren't we?" I said, but there was no bite in my tone.

"Indeed we are, dear," Esme came and took my arm. "Parents always love to see their children dressed up for prom…every time they do it, no matter how many times they may have been before!"

She called for Alice and Jasper and insisted upon arranging us all on the stairs for a portrait, then in couples and then the boys and then Alice and I. Finally Edward took the camera and placed it on the piano to take a picture that would contain us all.

Emmett and I, Alice, Jasper, Edward, Esme and Carlisle. My family. In that moment I loved them all, but in the instant we held still with smiles for the click of the shutter, I couldn't help but notice the empty space beside Edward, and hold back a shiver for what it might mean in the future.


End file.
